The 9th Quarter Quell: 7 Days to Live
by Annabeth-TheTributeThatLived
Summary: This is my take on a future Quarter Quell. There will be several POVs in this story, so if you don't like it you can leave. Reviews are always appreciated, except mean ones. But criticism is helpful, so just be nice. AU- Enobaria won the Third Quarter Quell and the second rebellion failed. Rated T cuz it's the Hunger Games (Language and violence)
1. Prologue: The Quell

**A/N: So this is my first ever fanfiction. Let me know if you like it, but constructive criticism is also appreciated. I should be uploading a couple times a week. If I take too long, feel free to bombard me with PMs. So, yeah! Follow, favorite and review!**

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The president took the stage, live in front of Panem. He contained information on all past and future Quarter Quells, in addition to the Quell that would happen this year. This was the 225th Hunger Games, the 9th Quarter Quell. He selects an envelope and begins to read.

"On the twenty-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, the districts were made to hold an election and vote on the tributes who would represent it." The audience seemed to shift uncomfortably. Nobody remembered the outcome of these games, as they were 200 years ago. The Victor was long forgotten, their sacrifice was in vain.

"On the fiftieth anniversary, as a reminder that two rebels died for each Capitol citizen, every district was required to send twice as many tributes."

"On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them could not overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes were reaped from the existing pool of victors." Even though these games were 150 years ago, everybody remembers them. This was the year that Enobaria won and the second rebellion failed.

"On the one hundredth anniversary, as a reminder that nobody was safe from the wrath of the Capitol, a tribute was sent into the arena with all of their siblings, only excluding those under 2 years of age." This was the only year other than the 25th games that there were absolutely no volunteers, not even from the career districts, 1, 2 and 4.

He went on to talk about previous Quarter Quells. The year that the cornucopia was empty. The year that there were no sponsors.

"Finally, on the two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary, as a reminder of District 13's elimination, tributes will have only 7 days in the arena. If a single Victor is not presented, the arena will be bombed. Happy Hunger Games, citizens of Panem, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

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**A/N: Oooh, so what did you think of this year's twist? Sadly, this is not an SYOT, but if you have any ideas, feel free to send me a private message with 9QQ as the subject line. Oh, and I know that this chapter kind of sucked, but District 1 reapings will be next chapter, and it'll be better then. Thanks for reading, I'll upload soon!**


	2. District 1 reaping

**A/N: So you guys seemed to enjoy the idea of the 9th Quarter Quell, and you have no idea how happy that makes me ^.^ Anyway, I'm starting the reapings, starting with District 1 and moving on to 2 and so on. I should have District 2 posted soon, so watch out for it. Which reminds me, follow, favorite and review!**

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**Ruby Densberg (17) POV**

"Ladies first," says our escort. She reaches into the girls' reaping bowl and calls out "Savannah Ellesworth!" A girl about 13 starts to walk toward the stage. I recognize her as one of my little sister's friends. "Do we have a volunteer?"

It's now or never. I call out the phrase that my district is known for: "I volunteer as tribute!"

I look over to Savannah and smile. She's short for her age, not even 5 feet tall dispite being almost 14. She's always looked up to me, and I can see that she is close to tears.

"What's your name?" Asks Livian.

"Ruby Densberg," I tell her, starin straight ahead.

"So Ruby," she begins. "Was there any specific reason you volunteered this year?" I decide to start my act for the sponsors now.

"Last I checked, this isn't the interview part of the games," I say with a flip of my dark hair. "You'll find out soon enough. Isn't there still half of the reaping left to do?"

Livian looks shocked, then appalled. "Of course," she says, wrinkling her nose. I can tell she doesn't like me. Good, the feeling is mutual.

She reaches her claw into the boys' reaping ball and calls out the last name I want to hear. "Jared Nilsen!"

Jared.

My boyfriend.

One of two people I actually care about, the other being my sister.

"Any volunteers?" I scan the square until I find Josh. The trainers at the academy have told him that it's his year to volunteer. He meets my eyes and slowly shakes his head, smiling. He's always had a thing for me and will probably enjoy watching Jared die.

"Very well. Ladies and gentlemen, our tributes from District 1: Ruby Densberg and Jared Nilsen. Shake hands, please."

I reach my hand out, fighting back tears, for the sake of the cameras, but Jared doesn't take it. He walks over and gives me a bone-crushing hug. "It'll be ok," he whispers.

But it won't. No matter the outcome of the games, I've lost him.

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**A/N: So what did you guys think? The more reviews I get, the faster I upload! (Maniacal laugh.)**


	3. District 2 Reaping

**A/N: Follow, favorite and review! The more reviews I have, the faster I update! Love you guys! Mwah!**

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**Ethan Peterson (18) POV**

Not Sianna. Not Sianna. Anyone but Sianna. She's only 16, it's not her year. Please, not Sianna.

"As always," the dreaded voice says, "Ladies first." I hadn't even bothered to learn our new escort's name. She pissed me off too much. She reached into the girls' reaping bowl. Please not Sianna.

"Sianna Connard!"

Shit. This was my year to volunteer, my year to win. If nobody goes into the arena in Sianna's place, I'll have to go into the arena with my girlfriend.

"Do we have a volunteer?" You could literally hear a pin drop, if it wasn't for the interference from the mic. Sianna's only 16, but anyone from training knows that she could easily win. But she has been training for the ordinary games, not a Quarter Quell. Even so, she looks confident and strong as she walks to the stage and says "No volunteers. I've been waiting my whole life for this."

Wow. I didn't see that coming. "Now, for the boys." I contemplate not volunteering. My family could put the money they saved to sponsor me aside for Sianna. That is, until the male tribute is called out.

"Colin Peterson!" Now I have to volunteer. I have to. He's my little brother, how could I not? I won't let him into the arena with my girlfriend. I can't risk having the two most important people in my life die!

"I volunteer as tribute!" I yell. I walk onto the stage, trying to appear confident.

"Ethan, what are you-" Sianna starts. I don't let her finish.

"I can't let you do this alone, and I can't let my brother die."

"What's your name, dear?" The escort asks. I shoot daggers at her, more accurately than even Sianna can throw them.

"Let's think about this," I say. "Sianna just called me Ethan, and Colin Peterson is my younger brother. What do _you_ think?"

I grab Sianna's hand and walk towards the Justice Building without being dismissed.

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**Sianna- 16 Y/O Black hair, brown eyes, tan**

**Ethan- 18 Y/O Dark red hair, hazel eyes, tan**


	4. District 3 Reaping

**A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a little shorter than previous ones. Anyway, as I promised, no more couples. Remember to vote on the arena, hardly anyone has entered the poll. Follow, favorite and review! Oh, and thanks to Lulubell2495 for beta-ing! Also, thanks to Grand Coconut for helping me come up with character names! Love you both XO**

**Elizabeth POV**

My hands are shaking. I'm only thirteen, but my name is in the reaping 18 times. Twice because I had to, and 16 more times because I am the only one in my family able it get food. My parents are unemployed and my sisters are too young to be in the reaping.

I am vaguely aware of hearing our escort, Pierre saying the usual " Ladies first." I'm so nervous, my ears are ringing. Through the ringing, I think I hear a muffled version of my own name, but I can't be sure. At least, not until the girl behind me gives me a slight shove forward.

Pierre says something I can't hear, but I expect he's calling up the male tribute. My ears seem to stop ringing at once. "Arthur Watts!" He says. I've never seen this guy in my life, so I have no idea what I'm up against.

Pierre tells us to shake hands and I feel like crying. The boy holds out his hand and I take it timidly. I'm short for my age, and he's at least 18 inches taller than me. His face is completely blank.

I look for my family. My mother is crying. My dad is trying to comfort her, and my little sisters are looking around, confused.

Finally, I look across the stage to my brother, District 3's most recent Victor. My brother, that won't share his wealth with the rest of the family. The reason my name was in the reaping more than it should be. My brother who won't even look at me. My brother, who starting now, will be my mentor.

My last chance.

**Elizabeth- Brown hair, blue eyes, tan, 4'6", 13 Y/O**

**Arthur- Black hair, brown eyes, tan, 6'2", 16 Y/O**

**Asdfghjkl. So what did you think of Elizabeth's relationship with her brother? I'm trying to figure out a name for him, first review gets it unless it's inappropriate. *Cough Cici and Alyda.* Also, reviews give me inspiration. Byeas!**


	5. District 4 Reaping

**A/N: So here it is, District 4! Sorry it's later than usual, but to be fair, there are authors that only upload once or twice a month. Oh well, you can't win them all. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, and I'll try to get District 5 up tomorrow. Thanks to Lulubell2495 for beta-ing!**

**Riley POV**

I live for weird excitement. Even though I'm only 16, I'm volunteering for he ninth Quarter Quell.

I get to the square almost a half hour early so I can get a good spot. A Peacekeeper pricks my finger and I hold it out in front of me so as not to get blood don my white skirt. That would be embarrassing, to say the least. I wait with my friend as close to the stage as my 16-year-old status would allow me. Why couldn't I be 18? Neither of us was nervous because we both knew what would happen. Me and Aiden would be volunteering this year.

I started thinking about the possibilities for this year's arena, and grew more and more excited. Last Quarter Quell, the arena was a torture chamber. It was probably SO cool to be a Career in those games. Needless to say, the District 2 male win that year.

I'm brought back to reality by a shrill voice shrieking "Ladies first!" They stopped reading the Treaty of Treason years ago when they realized that nobody was listening. "Riley Frise!"

I'm just about to volunteer when I realize I was reaped. That makes this easier for me, I guess. Since I knew I would be volunteering, I took out all the tesserae I could and gave it to the homeless. This was quite a bit, considering I have 5 sisters and 2 brothers that are all older than me, with successful jobs, I may add. I'm daydreaming again.

I walk up to the stage confidently. "And now, for the boys." I check the quality of my nails. I hope my prep team doesn't cut them too short. I did that once and it hurt badly. I wasn't able to hold a sword for a week. "Aiden Ross!"

There is no way this is a coincidence. Both would be volunteers for the games were reaped. I shrug it off. I cannot get distracted.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our tributes from District 4. Shake hands please." I take Aiden's hand A death grip. His hand is clammy and shaking. I know this can't be nerves, it's probably because we were both reaped.

A Peacekeeper grabs my arm, and I reflexively punch him in the jaw. I don't like to be touched. A laugh erupts from the people in the crowd, and I know I've done no harm because of his helmet. If I keep this up, I'll definitely get sponsors. We are led into the Justice. Building, and nobody comes to say goodbye.

**Riley- Strawberry blonde hair, green eyes, deep tan, 5'6", 16 Y/O**

**Aiden- Dark blond hair, blue-green eyes, tan, 6'4", 18 Y/O**

**A/N: What did you guys think? Please review! Reviews give me inspiration, so the more reviews I get, the faster I'll update. That's not a threat, that's actually what happens. no reviews makes me sad, and when I'm sad, I have no inspiration. Remember to vote on the arena, hardly anyone has. The poll is on my profile. Follow, favorite and review!**


	6. District 5 Reaping

**A/N: OMG, sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry! I thought I would be able to update but. Y weekend was really hectic. I saw the Divergent movie with my mom and Lulubell2495, why I'm now just gonna call Alyda. Anyway, we did that on Saturday. Then on Sunday I had an audition for a summer theatre program, and in top of that, I had homework. Anyway, sorry for the essay! Follow, favorite and review! **

**P.S., Alicia is based on Alyda**

**Alicia POV**

'I volunteer as tribute.' I never understood how anyone could say that. Assuming everybody had the same speed, strength, weaponry skill and knowledge of plants, you only have a 4.16% chance of winning. When you factor in the fact that 6 of those tributes are all experienced killing machines, your chances go down to about 1.64%. There is exactly a 6 in 15,632 chance that I will be reaped. I've counted the reaping slips. I hunt with my older brother. I'm pretty good with a bow, and I know everything there is to know about edible plants. I also have a good memory, and I'm fast. If I'm reaped, I figure I have roughly a 3.5% chance of winning.

"Hello District 5, blah blah blah, happy Hunger Games, the odds are not in your favor."

Like I didn't already knew.

"Alright, let's get this over with," the escort says. He reaches into the bowl and grabs the first piece of paper he touches. "Alicia Schripe."

He barely gives me time to walk up to the stage before he calls out for some kid named Sam to come to the stage. Ive seen him around school. I don't particularly like him. He's always just gotten on my nerves. I really don't have a valid reason for hating him, I just kind of do. Every time he talks, I just want to shoot him in the heart. And he talked a lot.

Even so, when I meet his eyes I mouth _'Allies?'_ He gives me such a faint nod that I almost miss it. Now I was stuck with him.

I hope I don't have to kill him.

**Alicia- Dark red hair, green eyes, really pale**

**Sam- Dark brown hair, hazel eyes, tan-ish**

**A/N: So, what did you think? I hope I have more reviews for this chapter. Reviewlesness makes me sad. Anyway, remember to vote on the arena design, the poll is still up. It'll be up for another couple if weeks, so if you haven't already. There's some pretty creative stuff up. I will TRY, repeat TRY to get District 6 up tomorrow, but I make no promises. Thanks for reading, tell your friends. Follow, favorite and review! **


	7. District 6 Reaping

**A/N: OMG! I'm so sorry I haven't updated. I have no excuse. D: Will you forgive me? Anyway, I have some news. Ready? I think you are. I'm Suzanne Collins. That's why I'm writing fanfiction and not having slumber parties with J.K. Rowling and Veronica Roth. Anywho, needless to say, I am not Suzanne Collins. The idea for the Hunger Games is hers, but all unfamiliar characters are mine. Also, my friend Lulubell2495 who I talk endlessly of has written her first fan fiction! Aaah! It's called Temporary and it IS a HG fanfic. I favorited it, so it's on my profile if you can't find it. And thanks to her for beta-ing. Anyway, follow, favorite and review! Mwah!**

**Oh, and um.. Language warning, I guess?**

**McKenzi POV**

I enter the square with my twin sister and immediately feel out of place. Today is the day of the death sentence- I mean reaping- of the District 6 tributes and we are expected to dress up. Well, for us, dressing up constitutes putting on a clean shirt that is relatively free of oil stains and wrinkles. However, I live in Victor's Village with my grandfather, who won the 7th Quarter Quell. We have some extra money, so for me and Adalaide, dressing up means putting in a yellow sundress and doing each other's makeup. We are a flash of light in an otherwise dismal event.

We have just taken our places as our escort Celeste taps the mic to see if it's working properly. "Welcome to the 225th annual hunger games!" my hands are sweaty, so I wipe them on my dress. "As usual, ladies first."

I take a deep breath. _Not Adelaide. _I thought. _Not Adelaide. Please, not Adelaide. I'll do it instead, just don't pick Adelaide._

"McKenzi Phelps!" Inlet out a sigh of relief, glad that it's not Adelaide before I realize that it was me. I head towards the stage. For whatever reason, I just can't stop giggling. I don't know what's happening, but at least I'll appear confident and bubbly to the Capitol citizens and sponsors. I purposely trip in my way up the stage. Maybe if I loom ditzy, the Capitol girls will relate to me better. The thought of me starting a new trend as stupid as this makes me laugh even harder.

"No!" I hear Adelaide yell. "Stop! I volunteer as tribute!" She yells.

"Adelaide, no. Go find Grandpa. Go." I can't let her volunteer. She has never stepped foot in the woods, and I'm the best runner in our school. Plus, Adelaide has a boyfriend worth coming home to, but she wouldn't be able to come home. Not to sound rude, but it know that she couldn't win. She doesn't have it in her to kill people.

"Was that your sister?" Celeste asks.

"No fucking shit." I already know that I want my angle to be bipolar. Sweet and ditzy one minute, ruthless the next.

She looks shocked. People aren't supposed to talk like that to their escorts, to at least not to their faces.

I get so wrapped up in my thoughts if hate for the Capitol, I totally miss the name of my district partner. That is, until I notice that it's my childhood best friend and boyfriend Luke.I notice that his hands are shaking faster than anyone's I've ever seen. Only one thought comes to mind.

_I cannot let him die in the bloodbath._

**McKenzi: Blonde hair, deep brown eyes with flecks of gold, pale, 5'4" 15 Y/O**

**Luke: Black hair, green eyes, tan, 5'6" 16 Y/O**

**A/N: So yeah. Sorry this update took a while longer than others, but it's longer than most of the other ones, right? Right. Anyway, remember to vote in the arena, the poll is on my profile. Byeas!**


	8. District 7 reaping

**A/N: *Dodges bullet* Sorry I took so long! Life has been busy... Please don't hurt me! Anyway, there's a _new _poll on my profile to chose Elizabeth's brother's name. seeing as tough the only remotely usable name suggested was Bob... *Glares at Alyda.* And I'm not going to call him Kim Kardashian *Glares at Alyda again.* Speaking of Alyda, thanks to her for beta-ing. You should check out her fanfiction, it's called _Temporary _and it's a Hunger Games fanfiction. If you can't find it, I favorites her, so check my profile. Follow, favorite and review!**

**Chris POV**

_I have to get out of here,_ I think. I live in District 7, so, trees. The problem is, I'm too afraid of heights to be of any use. Also, my mother went insane after giving birth to me. My father says it's my fault and beats me. He doesn't abuse my older brother.

I plan on volunteering for the Hunger Games. If I win, I'll live in Victor's Village, away from my father. I'll have enough money that I won't have to climb trees all day to make a living. If I don't win... I die. Either way, I'll be free of my father.

I'm not going to win. The Capitol has tried not to allow a victor from District 3, 4, 7 or 12 since the 3rd Quarter Quell, after the "rebellious" acts of Beetee Roberts, Finnick Odair, Johanna Mason and Peeta Mellark. Not to mention the "Girl on Fire," Katniss Everdeen. There have been a few exceptions though. I hope I'm one of them.

I leave for the reaping before my dad and brother. I hope to never see them again.

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"As always," the escort says, "Ladies first."

She reaches her hand into the reaping bowl and grabs a piece of paper from the bottom. Everybody holds their breath to hear who the "Lucky young lady" will be.

"Rose Klappe!" Rose walks up to the stage. She has a serene look on her face as if she had accepted the fact that she would be going in a long time ago. She is so much like Willow. The thought of my girlfriend is almost enough to keep me from volunteering. I decide that my hatred of my father is stronger than my love for Willow.

"Do we have a volunteer?" I see Willow start to say something, but Rose is on stage and shakes her head. Willow looks disappointed/

"Alright, now for the boys." I step towards the stage, ready to volunteer. "Travis Oaks!"

"I volunteer as tribute," I say calmly. Travis looks shocked. He's in my class at school and I've hardly ever spoken two words to him.

I walk up to the stage and the Cotton Candy Lady asks my name.

"Chris Blight," I say.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our tributes from District 7. Shake hands please."

I take Rose's hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. We walk into the Justice Building and I make a promise to myself:

_I'm not going to ally with her. But I will do everything in my power to keep her safe._

**Rose- Curly blonde hair, gray eyes, pale-ish, 4'9", 12 Y/O**

**Chris- Black hair, amber eyes, tan, 5'8", 17 Y/O**

**A/N: Sooo, what did you think? The only way I'll know is if you leave me a review! All of my reviewers seemed to disappear and I'm sad. D': I'll try to get District 8 up tomorrow, cuz they're my favorites. It seems really slow now, but it will pick up after the reapings. I really hate it when authors introduct completely new characters by just doing all of the reapings in one chapter and give us nothing but their name. I don't know, call me crazy, but it bugs me. **


	9. District 8 reaping

**A/N: OMIGOD I AM SO SORRY IT'LL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN! I have been so flipping busy, it isn't even funny. Anyway, I tried updating the other day, but it got deleted. Plus, we are less than 4 weeks away from our first show for our school musical, so I've been swamped with rehearsals. And field hockey practices. Anyway, you didn't come here for my excuses, you came for District 8 reaping. **

**I apologize in advance.**

**Jake POV:**

I wait in line in front of a group of Peacekeepers waiting to get my finger pricked. My little sister- she hates when I call her that- is standing behind me. She says she can do this on her own now that she's 14, but she always ends up standing with me. Even though we're brother and sister, we look nothing alike. Natalie looks just like mom, with her wavy red hair and eyes so dark they're almost black. I look like dad, curly black hair and plain brown eyes. Not very dark or light, or thoughtful or "mesmerizing," just brown. Boring brown, like mud.

I walk her to her section and she whispers "Good luck..."

I give her a smile. "And may the odds be _ever _in your favor," I finish.

I walk to the section with the other 17 year old boys and wait for the escort. She's always late.

"Welcome to the 225th annual Hunger Games." She says. "Ladies first."

She walks to the reaping bowl and I hold my breath. I don't really know what for. Our family is fairly stable financially, so neither of us took out any tesserae.

Needless to say, when Natalie was called up, I was quite surprised. Nobody volunteers.

"And now, for the boys," She says. "Jacob Quimby!"

I cringe. I hate when people call me Jacob, I really prefer Jake. Anyway, I walk up to the stage and I can practically see the wheels turning in the escort's mind.

"You two have he same last name," she says slowly. " But you don't look alike... You must be cousins!" She looks so proud of her, I'm almost sad to have to correct her.

Almost.

"She's my little sister," I say coldly.

With this, our escort bursts into tears, purple and orange makeup running from her eyes, red lipstick smearing.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she sniffles. "Our tributes from District 8."

**Natalie: Bright red hair, dark brown eyes, 5'2", 14 Y/O**

**Jake: Black hair, medium brown eyes, 5'8", 17 Y/O**

**A/N: *Sobs* I'm so upset right now, you don't understand. :'( Remember to follow, favorite and review. Reviews buy sponsor gifts! We wouldn't want Natalie dying if dehydration, hunger or blood loss... Would we? Also check Out the fanfiction by Lulubell2495 called 'Temporary.' Its on my favorites list, so you can find it there. She's my beta, so let her know I sent you. There's a poll on my profile to vote on Elizabeth's brother's name. A total of 1 person has votes on it. I'll try to update soon, but no promises. Byeee!**


	10. District 9 Reaping

**A/N: Hey guys! Spring break is now officially started, at least in my opinion. It's the Friday night before break. Honestly, I'm exhausted and I don't feel good, so if this chapter is crap, let me know and I'll fix it, cuz it is pretty late. Anyway, here is District 9... I feel like they don't get enough credit. They're the only district where both tributes died in the bloodbath in the 74th and 75th games. Ok, enoug random facts. Thanks to Lulubell2495 for beta-ing (do I have to keep saying that?) and be sure to check out her fanfiction even though she NEVER UPDATES. GRRR. Anyway, if you do read it, tell her I sent you and tell her to update. Also, try to vote on the poll posted on my profile. Seriously, it only takes a minute and only one person has voted. This is turning into the longest author's note in the history of ever. Love you guys! Follow, favorite and review!**

**Language warning. Just saying.**

**Grace POV**

This is my first reaping that I can breathe easilly for. My older sister had her last reaping last year, and my younger sister is having her first in 2 years. I also have another sister who's 24 and married. Me, I'm 14. Even though there is a good chance my name will be picked, I'm just happy it's not any of my sisters.

I walk to the designated area with the girls I eat lunch with. I call them friends, but they're all closer to eachother than they are to me. But that's ok. I have other friends, they just aren't the traditional friends that you could gossip with and point out cute boys to. No, they're nothing like that.

_Du-dum._

Why does our escort always have to tap the mic? Like the Capitol's technology would ever fail. It's laughable really, and I'm not talking about her outfit.

"Welcome children of District 9!" she gushes. We all know she's hoping to be promoted to a better district like 1 or 4. "Let me tell you what an honor it is to be the District 9 escort for this year's Hunger Games." Bullshit.

A tin can is thrown from the 18 year old boys section, right by the stage. The Peacekeepers find the thrower and we hear the all too familliar _bang_ of the Peacekeeper gun.

_Flashback_

_"Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true, here is the place where I love you." My mother's voice soothes me after my nightmare. At the age of 6, all I wanted to do was hear her sing to me. "Now, let's get you to bed before those damn Peacekeepers notice that the lights are on during curfew."_

_It was too late. With 3 Peacekeepers guarding each street, it was impossible for at least one not to notice that the lights were on. Terrifyingly, all 3 of them came running toward the house._

_The color leaves my mother's face as she calls for my oldest sister, 16 at the time to take me and our other sisters to the crawl space._

_"Mommy, what's going on?" I ask_

_"Don't worry Gracie," she says. "Go with sissy, and make sure Kylie is ok. No matter what happens, remember Mommy loves you." She grabs the pendant of her necklace and yanks with such force that the chain snaps. She gives the whole broken thing to me and kisses me once on the forehead. "Go with Sissy," she repeats._

_In the crawl space, I sit with Kylie in my lap while my two older sisters sit against the door. Even though our parents were two floors below us, I could hear everything going on because of the paper thin walls. I was using my hands to cover Kylie's ears, so she hopefully wouldn't have any memory of this._

_"No! Please! It won't happen again I pro-" this is the last thing I hear from my mother before a loud boom fills the house._

_There is another bang and I know that must have been Daddy._

_We went downstairs as soon as we were sure the Peacekeepers had left and my mother and father's dead eyes are staring at my own._

_My eyes are alive, but will forever be dead._

_End of flashback._

"Helloooo?" I hear. "Is there a Grace Hadely in the audience?"

I freeze momentarilly before stumbling to the stage.

"Sorry," I say. "I'm sorry. Excuse me! GODDAMMIT I SAID MOVE!"

A clear path is formed for me and I storm up to the stage. I'm incredibly pissed that after everything that has happened to me, I'm a fucking tribute in the Hunger Games.

"Sweetheart," the escort begins. I interrupt her before she has the chance to finish.

"What!?" I screech. "What is it that you have to say that is so much more important than reaping some DUDE who has to go into the fiery pits of hell to fight for his life in this sick twisted GAME you people have come up with?!"

As if in a trance, the escort walks to the male reaping bowl and calls for Ryan Polrain.

I breathe a right of relief that it's nobody I know.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the tribupres from District 9." She says "Please shake hands." She looks at me and quickly adds "If that's alright with you."

I smirk and strut into the Justice building. It looks like I've found my angle.

**Grace- Golden blonde hair, green eyes, pale, 5'6", 14 Y/O**

**Ryan- Black hair, hazel eyes, tan, 5', 16 Y/O**

**A/N:... What did you think? I cried when I wrote the flashback. Ok, not really, but it made me sad. I'm not really sure how I feel about putting 2 bipolar girls in the story, but it'll work out. Also, I know I haven't really been saying much about the tribute's district partners, but they will have POVs later, so unless you've found your absolute favorite character of any fanfiction ever, I'd wait until right before the games to vote in the poll I haven't made yet. Right now, the current poll is figuring out Elizabeth's brother's name, but once the District 12 reaping is posted, I'm putting up a favorite character poll, and the winner of that will be granted immunity of the bloodbath and will be guaranteed a spot in the final 8. Anyway may the odds be ever in your favor.**


	11. District 10 Reaping

**A/N: Hey guys! A I just felt the need to tell you that this chapter is going to be quite a bit longer than usual. Remember to vote on my poll when you're done reading this. The winning name so far is Caleb, and it's only going to be up for another week or so. Thanks to Lulubell2495 for beta-ing. Check out her fanfiction. Follow, favorite and review!**

**Margaret POV**

"Alright, here's one: you're in the training center and you notice the Career tributes watching you. What do you do?"

I smile. I've given this scenario a lot of thought. "Well," I begin. "First, I avoid eye contact so they think I'm weak. Then, I fail miserably at the station I'm at so that I'm not made a target."

My mother looks pleased. "Good answer," she says "Now what do you do if you are asked to join an alliance?"

I think about this for a moment. "Well that depends," I say slowly. "everyone in the alliance would have to have a training score that is above 5, and I would have to see them with their weapon of choice so I know what I'm getting into. Then, I'd consider it."

Mother's face is blank. "What do you hope to accomplish in your private training session with the Gamemakers?"

"I want them to see me as a weakling." I say. "My alliance members will be informed of this and I'll make sure to show them what I can do when nobody else is looking. I believe they call this... pulling a Johanna." Johanna Mason was the Victor from District 7 who won by making everyone think she was a weakling.

"And what can you do?"

"I can throw knives," I say without missing a beat. " And I can identify edible and medicinal plants. I can heal the wounded, make a shelter and start a fire out of virtually nothing."

My mother has been training me for the Hunger Games since I was 6. I'm 14 now, and I can't say I plan on volunteering. She just trains me in case I get reaped. She wants me to come home.

"Alright, that's enough for today. We'll talk more after the reaping. Finish your toast and get dressed."

After I finish my breakfast, I go up to my room to get dressed for the reaping. I pick out a denim skirt, a pale green button down that sets off my eyes, black ballet flats and a silver anklet. I leave the button down unbuttoned over a black tank top.

We're one of the richer families in our district. My thrice great grandmother was Annie Cresta. After the love of her life Finnick Odair was brutally murdered in the 75th Hunger Games, she sought refuge in District 10. Being a well known Victor from a career district, the Capitol made sure she had a mansion to stay in and enough money to last her generations. People say I look just like her. Everyone says I look just like her. Everyone in the family has her sea green eyes, but I seem to have picked up her red hair when nobody else did. I like it because it makes me different from everyone else.

I look at the clock and see that I have another hour until my presence is required at the reaping. I put on a bit of silvery blue eye shadow, black mascara, baby pink blush and clear lip gloss. I shut off my light and go downstairs.

"You look beautiful," mother says. "Are you ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." I reply.

* * *

"Hannah Schmit!" A small brunette starts to walk towards the stage from the 12 year old section. She's maybe 4'6" and wouldn't last a day in the games.

But I would. And I wouldn't feel right letting her get sent to her death.

"I- I v-v-volunt-teer as t-tribute!" I stutter.

I walk up to the stage and trip over my feet a few times for dramatic affect.

"What's your name?" The escort asks.

"Margaret C-Cresta."

"Any relation to Annie Cresta?"

"Y-yes."

"How do you know Hannah?"

"I... I don't," I say, summoning fake tears. "But sh-she's only t-tw-twelve! She's too young to d-die!"

"Do you think you can win?"

"No!" I screech. "But neither could she!"

"Alright," she says. "Now, for the boys."

She reaches into the bowl and calls out "Hayden Pierce!"

A lanky boy of 16 comes up and I already know I could take him in a fight if I had to. If all non-careers are going to be as weak as this, I should have no problem not making it to at least the final 8.

But the odds of that happening are not in my favor.

**Margaret- Auburn hair, sea green eyes, tan with freckles, 5'5", 14 Y/O**

**Hayden- Blond hair, murky brown eyes, tan, 5'7", 16 Y/O**

**A/N: What did you think? the only way I'll know is if you review... Reviews can buy sponsor gifts, and it only takes a minute. Also, remember to vote on my poll.**

**Also, I'm starting Hunger Games trivia. It's the same rules as sponsoring in that you have to be following the story and you can't be a guest. Basically, I'm going to ask a question and the first person to get the right answer gets 30 points put into their sponsoring account. BUT the review can't just be the answer to the question. There has to be a legit review attached to it. We'll start off easy:**

**What is the name of the actor that plays Cato?**

**Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor.**


	12. District 11 Reaping

**A/N: And the points go to DobbyTheFreeElf1290 and RealOrNotReal2402! Yes, I am giving you 2 updates in one day, cuz I'm really eager to start the sponsoring. Also, it looks like Elizabeth brother's name is going to be Caleb, but we'll call him Damn Greedy Assface if it makes the people who voted for that happy. Thanks to Lulubell2495 for beta-ing, check out her fanfiction. Remember to review! Reviews buy sponsor gifts.**

**James POV**

I walk with my girlfriend to the 17 year old girl section. After a quick kiss, I go across the aisle to my section just as the District 11 escort Aphrodite walks up to the stage. Her name fits her. Unlike most women from the Capitol, she is dressed in a simple sundress with her real hair down and curled, and minimal makeup. She is pretty, but nothing compared to Layla.

"Welcome District 11, to the reaping of the 225th annual Hunger Games. As usual, ladies first."

She reaches into the bowl and pulls out a piece of paper. "Melody Harrison!" A trembling twelve year old girl with pigtails makes her way up to the stage. "Oh, sweetie, you're ok!" Aphrodite exclaims. "Please don't cry..."

Melody nods and wipes her nose. "Alright," Aphrodite says. "Now, the boys." She unfolds another piece of paper and says the last thing I'd expect her to say: "James Enright!"

It's me. I'm going in the arena.

"James!" I hear. "James no! Please!" Layla starts running towards the stage and a Peacekeeper grabs her neck and yanks her back.

"Don't touch her!" I yell. I run over to the Peacekeeper, and before he has time to react, I rip his helmet off and punch him in the face.

When I get to the stage, Aphrodite is stifling a laugh and Melody is staring at me with admiration.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Aphrodite giggles. "Our tributes from District 11. Shake hands please."

I shake Melody's hand lightly. I keep holding her hand as I walk her to her room in the Justice Building.

What can I say? She reminds me of my sister.

**Melody- Black hair, really tan, dark brown eyes, 4'8", 12 Y/O**

**James- Black hair, Dark brown eyes, chocolate brown skin, 6'4", 17 Y/O**

**A/N: Remember to review! I really don't have much else to say, so let's just get into the trivia, shall we?**

**Who was the only person to be killed by the same person twice?**


	13. District 12 Reaping Recap

**A/N: So here it is, the final reaping. Are you guys as excited as I am like seriously... This chapter is going to be a little bit different so just kind of prepare for that I guess. Immediately after this chapter goes out I'm going to do a poll to vote on your favorite character. The character with the most votes by the time the games come around will be granted immunity from the bloodbath and a spot in the final eight. Remember that reviews by sponsor gifts so yeah. Also check out Lulubell2495's fanfiction. It's called Temporary and it's about what would've happened if Prim had volunteered. Remember to review! Love you guys!**

**Justin POV**

I'm on the train on my way to the Capitol, a tribute in the Hunger Games. We are about to watch the reaping recaps.

"How about to mix things up we start from District 12 and work our way backwards?" Our escort asks. She is under the mistaken impression that we should all be as excited about out imminent deaths as she is.

First is us District 12. The shabby boy from the Seam and the pregnant merchant girl. I have experience with snares. As a Hawthorne, it's in my blood. Peyton's only 16 and I can tell her pregnancy will get her a lot of sponsors.

In District 11 there's a 12-year-old girl and a strong looking boy. He punched peacekeeper in the face. He's also going to get more sponsors than I am.

District 10 holds a weak looking boy and even weaker girl. The only special thing about them is the girl is related to Annie Cresta. I marked them both off as bloodbath material.

In District 9, a little girl is overcome with rage and her district partner seems a little bit scared.

District 8 as siblings who couldn't look more like cousins. They have the same basic face, but other than that, they look nothing alike.

District seven has a volunteer which is a first. He seems surprised at the choice of the female tribute… he looks as though he knew her.

In District 6, the girl's twins sister tries to volunteer for her. The mail tries to look intimidating but fails miserably. They could both die in the bloodbath.

District 5 has to smart looking tributes. I noticed that they agree to be allies but the people that I'm with don't. That should give me a slight advantage, right?

Even though the pair from District 4 are reaped, they both looked like very typical careers. The girl is small but looks as though she could kill you a dozen different ways without even a weapon.

The trembling pair from three almost makes me laugh out loud. It's not fair to theif district that they are wedged between all of the careers.

District 2 makes me fear for my life. Literally. These tributes make the pair from 4 look like puppies.

Then comes District one. The boys a very typical career even though he was reaped, but the girl... There's nothing typical about her. She rushes forward to volunteer for a 13-year-old girl even though she doesn't look much more capable herself. It's then when I'm able to admire how beautiful she is. She looks as though she could be from District 12. I remember story a while ago about a victor from One who had... Relations with the male tribute from 12 in the arena. I wonder for a moment if Ruby I think her name was cold be the child born because of them. I shook it off. The chances of that are very slim, almost 1,000,000 to 1. The only thing I'm sure of is that I've fallen for her, and hard.

**Peyton- Blnode hair, blue eyes, pale, 5'8", 16 Y/O**

**Justin- Black hair, gray eyes, olive skin, 5'9", 17 Y/O**

**A/N: Did you like what I did there? I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that but I kind of ran out of inspiration for these people. Don't tell anyone. Anyway the Paul should be up for about three weeks so go vote on your favorite character. Unless you've already found your absolute favorite character I recommend waiting until just before the games I posted just because I will have other POVs for the district partners. So go get you some. Now, on to the trivia.**

**How old is Haymitch in book 1? (Yes, this is tricky. Hint: it involves math.) If nobody guesses correctly then nobody gets the points. You have until the next chapter is uploaded. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor.**


	14. Attention sponsors!

**I'm starting sponsorships right after the District 12 reaping is posted. I thought I'd give you the guidelines now.**

**Rules:**

1) For every review you have posted, you get 20 points. (Limit 1 review per chapter)

2) Guests are not eligible to be sponsors, you must have an account.

3) Sponsors must be following the story. You have to see what's going to happen to your tribute(s). Duh!

* * *

Food:

_Pack of crackers: 5 points_

_Pack of jerkey: 5 points_

_Trail mix: 10 points_

_Granola bar: 10 points_

_Energy bar: 15 points_

_8 oz water bottle: 10 points (+5 for juice)_

_16 oz water bottle: 20 points (+10 for juice)_

_50 oz water bottle (Best deal!): 50 points (+20 for juice)_

_Loaf of bread: 40 points_

_Cup of broth: 20 points_

_5 apples: 30 points_

_Pack of dried fruit: 15 points_

_Pizza party (Medium pepperoni pizza, 10 wings, 10 pieces of celery w/ ranch, 2 liter of Root Beer): 200 points_

_Capitol feast (BBQ ribs, pot of lamb stew, rice, mixed vegetables, 20 rolls, goat cheese, fruit salad, 3 cups of hot chocolate, 3 cups of lemonade, silverware, plates and napkins): 400 points_

* * *

Survival:

_10 feet of rope: 5 points_

_Small coil of wire: 5 points_

_Medium coil of wire: 10 points_

_Large coil of wire: 20 points_

_Small first aid kit (3 band-aids, 5 pieces of gauze, tape and antiseptic): 20 points_

_Medium first aid kit (10 band-aids, 20 pieces of gauze, tape, antiseptic, rubbing alcohol, pain killers and fever reducers): 50 points_

_Large first aid kit (25 band-aids, 50 pieces of gauze, tape, antiseptic, rubbing alcohol, peroxide, pain killers, fever reducers, burn cream, tracker hacker anti venom, Pepto Bismol, medicinal plant book, needle and thread and a 20 oz bottle of ginger ale) 200 points_

_Flashlight: 50 points_

_Tent: 50 points_

_Net: 25 points_

_Blanket: 30 points_

_All medicine: 100 points_

_Small shovel: 35 points_

_Matches: 20 points_

_Sleeping bag: 75 points_

_Iodine: 20 points_

_Compass- 50 points_

_Awl: 60 points_

_Spile: 30 poings_

_Empty backpack: 50 points_

_Sneakers: 45 points_

_Belt: 20 points_

_Boots: 70 points_

_Jacket: 90 points_

_Body armor: 150 points_

_Shield: 50 points_

_Change of clothes [T-Shirt, jeans, jacket, extra socks, hair tie, boots and sneakers includes bra for female tributes)]: 100 points_

_Small random backpack (About the size of a medium sized purse) (Contains 3 of the following: matches, rope, small coil of wire, iodine, change of socks, small first aid kit, hair tie, dried fruit, aloe spray; chosen randomly; orange in color): 100 points_

_Medium random backpack(Actually a drawstring bag) (Contains 5 of the following: Matches, rope, medium coil of wire, iodine, boots, sneakers, loaf of bread,medium first aid kit, small water bottle; chosen randomly; green in color): 200 points_

_Large random backpack (Contains 10 of the following: Matches, rope, large coil of wire, change of clothes, large first aid kit, iodine, medium water bottle, lotion, Chapstick, umbrella, fever reducers, pain killers, 5 Apples, cup of broth, empty syringe, survival knife, screw driver, wrench, tent; chosen randomly; black in color): 350 points_

* * *

Weapons:

_Dagger: 20 points_

_Pack of 3 throwing knives: 50 points_

_Pack of 5 throwing knives: 80 points_

_Sword: 100 points_

_Machete: 120 points_

_Sickle: 70 points_

_Spear: 75 points_

_Trident: 200 points_

_Whip: 80 points_

_Bow and 5 arrows: 75 points_

_Bow and 10 arrows: 125 points_

_Bow and 25 arrows: 200 points_

_Mace: 45 points_

_Baton: 40 points _

_Scythe: 125 points_

_Blowgun with 10 darts: 100 points_

_Blowgun with 24 darts: 200 points_

_Small axe: 50 points_

_Crossbow: 100 points_

_Large axe: 75 points_

_Gun powder and matches: 90 points_

_Slingshot: 60 points_

* * *

Misc:

_Walkie-talkies: 80 points_

_Bar of soap: 30 points_

_Bottle of lotion: 30 points_

_Chapstick: 10 points_

_Shampoo: 40 points_

_Towel: 20 points_

_Wash cloth: 5 points_

_Tooth brush: 15 points_

_Tooth paste: 30 points_

_Small hygiene pack (Bar of soap, towel and tooth brush): 50 points_

_Medium hygiene pack (Bar of soap, shampoo, towel, wash cloth, toothbrush): 85 points_

_Large hygiene pack (Bar of soap, bottle of lotion, Chapstick, shampoo, towel, wash cloth, toothbrush and tooth paste): 150 points_

_Pen and paper: 30 points_

_Sunscreen: 20 points_

_5 hair ties: 10 points_

_5 head bands: 20 points_

_Plastic wrap: 10 points_

_Alluminum foil: 20 points_

_5 Ziplock bags: 25 points_

**After the District 12 reaping is posted, you can PM me what you want to send to who. Also, after District 12 is posted, I'm going to be putting up a poll where you can vote for your favorite tribute. The tribute with the most votes will be granted immunity from the bloodbath and a guarenteed spot in the final 8. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor.**


	15. Goodbye

**A/N: And the points go to Bloodslatteredrose! Haymitch was 15 when he won his games making him 39 years old 24 years later. Remember to review! Don't forget to vote on the poll! Check out Lulubell2495's story called 'Temporary.' This chapter is going to be quite long.**

**Language warning**

* * *

**Ruby POV (District 1)**

"You have three minutes," I hear. I look up expecting to see my little sister Lexi, or her friend Savannah that I volunteered for. Instead, I'm face-to-face alone in a room with Josh.

"What the hell do you want?" I ask.

Instead of answering me, he responds by grabbing my waist and kissing me. I knee him in the groin.

"What do you think you're doing?" I ask angrilly.

"We both know you're not going to win," he says. "There are going to be others who are stronger than you. I thought I'd do that now while I have the chance."

"Fine," I say. "Then I'm going to do this while I have the chance."

I lean in slowly until we're only inches apart. He parts his lips and closes his eyes.

Rookie mistake.

I take advantage of his eyes being closed and punch him in the nose. Then, I grab his wrist and pin it behind his back. I push him to the ground with my free hand and shove my knee into his windpipe.

"We'll see who doesn't stand a chance." I say. I punch him in the nose once more before quickly scrambling off of him and yelling "GUARDS!"

Peacekeepers come rushing in to take Josh away. Wouldn't want a tribute getting hurt. Oh, the irony.

After Josh leaves, Lexi comes in.

"What happened with him?" She asks.

"He kissed me, so I pinned him to the ground and broke his nose," I say nonchalantly.

"Ok," she says. "Whatever works."

She hands me her ring and i take it, unsure.

"They let you have a token in the arena," she says. "To remind you of home." I nod and put the ring on my pinky finger, the only finger small enough to fit the 13-year-old's ring on.

"Promise me you'll try. Really really try," Lexi says.

"I promise," I say.

"Time's up," a Peacekeeper says.

Lexi hugs me around the waist and I kiss her forehead.

After Lexi, Savannah comes in.

"Thank you," she says. "I wouldn't have stood a chance." Savannah is one of the only kids in the district that isn't trained. Even Lexi takes archery lessons every Thursday night.

There isn't anything else to be said, so she fills the silence by asking if she can do my hair. I smile and nod. She teaches me how to do a fishtail braid and I show her how to French braid.

She gives me a hug, and I can't help but smile to myself as I'm led to the car.

Even without Jared, I do have people worth coming home to.

* * *

**Aiden POV (District 4)**

"There isn't much time, so let me explain." My dad says. "Am I correct in assuming that you were a bit... surprised that you and Riley were both reaped?"

Surprised was only one thing I was feeling. I was surprised, confused, suspicious, intrigued and a little angry. I nod.

"The Capitol caught on that Districts 1, 2 and 4 were training their tributes," he says. "It took them 225 years, but they are furious that our districts openly disobeyed the law, so they were trying to send us a message that they knew what was going on. The Capitol bugged the Training Centers and gathered enough information for their plan. They've stacked the reapings. In Districts 1 and 2, they put one of the probable volunteers in the arena with the person that they are in a relationship with.

"In District 1, the volunteer was a girl named Ruby." I roll my eyes. The things the District 1 citizens name their children. "She volunteered for her little sister's friend. She was only 13 and very small, so now to the sponsors, she doesn't look bloodthirsty; she looks compassionate. The male that they had planned on having volunteer obviously was infatuated with Ruby, so naturally when her boyfriend was reaped, the volunteer that could have been chose to instead watch his crush's boyfriend get killed.

"District 2 was a bit more complex. First, they determined that the male volunteer was going to be a boy named Ethan. His girlfriend was reaped, but the almost volunteer must have known that Sianna was just as- if not more capable to go into the games. To make sure that Ethan went in, they reaped his 12-year-old brother, knowing that he's volunteer.

"Which brings us to District 4. We were never the district most known for producing Career tributes, the only exception being Finnick Odair 160 years ago. So, put simply, the Capitol wanted you and Riley to seem weak. They wanted the other Careers to overlook you because yo were reaped. For this reason, you need to take on the roll of the leader of the Careers. Have Riley be your beta. Show off during training, and in your private sessions with the Gamemakers, do your absolute best. Your mentors will tell you to aim for an eight, but try your hardest to get a 10. Do you have any questions?"

"How the FUCK do you know all of this?" I ask.

"Spy," he says. "If you win, don't expect to see me when you get back. When the Capitol finds me out, I'll be executed for sure."

With that, a Peacekeeper comes and takes him away.

* * *

**Alicia POV (District 5)**

My entire family comes to visit at once, which is pretty stupid if you ask me. Now, instead of having 12 minutes of family time, I only have 3. I sigh through my nose when they all walk in together.

I start with my parents. "You guys will be fine," I say. "There's a good amount of money in my pillow. I was saving for it in case something like this ever happened. If I die, use it for whatever you need it for." My father nods and mom wipes her eyes with a piece of cloth.

I move on to my brother. I hug him and whisper "I'll miss you."

"You have a chance," he says. "You know how to hunt."

I shake my head. "It's different."

Lastly, I kneel down to my sister's level.

"Ashley," I say. "Don't cry. Please don't cry, I'll be ok."

Suddenly, I have an idea. Her hair is tied up in a ponytail with a blue ribbon. I carefully remove the ribbon from her hair and tie it around my wrist.

"You're allowed to wear something into the arena. Something personal, to remind you of home. Can I wear your ribbon?"

Natalie nods happily.

"Here," my mother says, handing me her wedding ring. "Loop the ribbon through this."

My father hands me his ring, and my brother gives me a random spool of thread from his pocket.

"You'll have to remove the thread or the Gamemakers will think it gives you an unfair advantage." He says. "Sorry I didn't have anything more meaningful on me."

"It's fine," I say. "This is perfect."

I hug each of my family members in turn before the Peacekeeper says that they have to go.

I wonder if they'll miss me when I'm gone.

* * *

**A/N: These three were the only POVs I found to be important for this chapter, but if you're interested in knowing what happened for any of the other tributes, here's a short summary:**

**Jared: Josh comes and tells Jared that he kissed Ruby and gets the shit beat out of him again. His parents come and say good-bye.**

**Sianna: Training instructor gives her last minute advice, parents say good-bye.**

**Ethan: Gets the same speech from a training instructor that Aiden gets from his dad and is told not to underestimate the tributes from 4.**

**Elizabeth: Friends and family say good-bye, Is reminded to try to play nice with her brother.**

**Arthur: Motivational speech from friend, family says good-bye**

**Riley: No one visits**

**Sam: Parents say to stick with Alicia and not to get sucked into the bloodbath**

**McKenzi: Adelaide and grandpa say goodbye, Adelaide's boyfriend thanks her for not letting Adelaide volunteer.**

**Luke: No one visits**

**Rose: Parents and Willow say good-bye, friends give her friendship bracelet as a token**

**Chris: Has intense makeout session with Willow. No one else visits.**

**Natalie and Jake: Family and friends say good-bye**

**Grace: Sisters visit and remind her to use mother's locket from night with Peacekeepers as a token**

**Ryan: Family says good-bye, friendly banter with friends**

**Margaret: Mother gives her last minute advice, visited by little girl she volunteered for**

**Hayden: Friends give him advice, parents say good-bye**

**Melody: Friends and family say good-bye**

**James: Has intense makeout session with Layla. Parents and little sister say good-bye**

**Peyton: Parents say that she deserves this for getting pregnant, comforted by baby daddy.**

**Justin: No one visits**

**Anyway, let me know in the reviews what you thought of this chapter. Keep in mind that there's a poll so you can vote on your favorite tribute. I did include one new POV in this chapter (Aiden), so yeah. Follow, favorite and review!**

**Trivia: When is Katniss Everdeen's birthday?**


	16. Home Sweet Train

A/N:** So here are the train rides... The points go to BloodsplatteredRose again! Katniss's birthday is May 8. Before you read this chapter, I made some minor I mean major adjustments to the District 6 reaping, so if you want this chapter to make even a little sense, I recommend rereading that. Sorry for the inconvenience. You can officially sponsor a tribute now, so PM me if you want to buy something for someone. Also, if you don't know how many points you have, I do, so PM me if you want to know that. That should be it. Remember to review and don't forget to vote on the poll! **

**Arthur POV**

On the train, I see more food than I've ever even thought if eating. There are table upon tables of meat, fruit, vegetables, bread and drinks. There's a section of the car seemingly dedicated to deserts I've never seen. I can't name most of this food. I ask Pierre if we're allowed to eat.

"Just save room for dinner!" Was his cheerful reply. I see Elizabeth's eyes go wide as she takes in all the food.

"Impressed?" Asks our mentor Caleb.

"Bite me," she replies.

I don't understand why she's being so rude to him. After all, he could be our only hope of surviving the arena.

After we eat a "light snack," to use Pierre's words, we are led into a separate car to watch the recaps. The Careers are all terrifying, even though 2/3 of them were reaped. Nobody really stands out to me, other than the volunteers from 7 and 10, the little girl in tears from 11 and the pregnant girl from 12. Elizabeth thinks otherwise.

"I like the girl from District 7," she says happily. "The girl from District 9 kind of scares me, but I like her too. I'm gonna see if they want to make an alliance."

I would not have told me that. I plan on doing this alone. I mean, at 6'2" I'm intimidating enough, even if I'm from an outer district. Even though Elizabeth's my district partner, I'd do anything to get home, so I try throwing her off with some "alliances" of my own.

"The guys from 10 and 12 look decent," I say. "I'd have to see how they do in training first though."

"I don't care how..." Elizabeth looks at the guide giving the tribute names "Rose and Grace do in training. They seem like nice people."

"Yeah, because nice people to have around is definitely the most important thing in an arena full of people that want your blood."

" Come in guys, that's enough," Caleb says. "Now, let's start talking strategy."

"Caleb, dearest," Elizabeth begins sarcasticly. "No offense, but you've been doing this for 8 years without a Victor. I think I'll just do my own thing." She walks off to her room, and Caleb turns to me.

"What about you?" He asks. "Do you want my advice?"

"Absolutely," I say without hesitation. "You won this thing, I saw you. Am I right to assume that your tributes in the past simply weren't smart enough to follow your advice?"

"Absolutely," he says. "As tributes from 3, you want to stay under the radar. Were you serious about wanting an alliance with 10 and 12?" I shake my head. "Good, keep to yourself. Also, do NOT go to the Cornucopia for supplies. There's always weapons in the arena for those smart enough to make one. I recommend taking one training day for survival skills and 2 for weapon skills."

It may have been the most cliché thing anyone has ever done, but I grabbed a pen and a notebook and starred taking notes.

* * *

**Luke POV**

I'm trying to listen to our mentor's advice. I really am. I just can't help staring at McKenzi. It's not my fault that she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Her wavy blonde hair is lie a waterfall of liquid gold, and her eyes are a warm chocolate brown that feel like I'm melting when I look into them. Her skin is flawless and she is just the right height for me; just 2 inches shorter. I've had a crush on her ever since we were both 8. We were the same age, but I was an older 8 so I was ahead of her in school.

_~Flackback~_

_The bell just rang, and I'm so happy to be out if school for the day. It means I get to see her. Since I was in third grade and she was in second, we weren't in the same class. I raced to her classroom and hid behind the cubbies. I saw a flash of blonde and walked a couple of yards behind her so she wouldn't notice me following her._

_We're walking on one of the streets in town, where she lives. Suddenly, a group of really big kids, maybe 9 or even 10 years old comes over And firms a circle around McKenzi._

_"Whatcha got there kid?" One of them asks, pointing to her school bag._

_"It's mine," she says. "I saved up for it with my allowance, so it's mine, not yours. Now leave me alone." This was the fighting spirit I admired in her._

_"Little girl," the same one said. "You're going to wish you never said that." The bully grabbed her school bag and held if high above his head._

_I came out from behind the bush I was hiding behind. "She said leave her alone!" I say._

_The big kids start laughing, even though I don't remember saying anything funny. Out of nowhere, the boy with McKenzi's bag pushed me over and threw the bag high in a tree. When McKenzi's eyes begin to fill with tears! the bullies are satisfied and run away._

_McKenzi stares up 20, 30, 40 feet above our heads, tears threatening to spill over her eyes. "That costed me 3 whole month's allowance!" She says. "Now it's gone forever!"_

_Tears begin to run down her face. I can't stand seeing her like this. "Here," I say. "Let me try to get it." I was always the one to win tree climbing contests with my friends, but this was higher than I've ever gone. Even so, wrap my hands around the lowest branch I can reach and start to work my way up to the sparkly messenger bag._

_When I reach the bag, I call down to her "Can you catch it?"_

_She nods and I drop the bag down in her general direction. I don't look to see if she caught it, I just start to go down the tree back to her. I hope I'll be able to have a conversation with her._

_"Thank you for standing up for me," she says. "And thank you for getting my bag for me. You were very brave." She stands up on her toes and gives me a kiss on the cheek. _

_I feel my face and ears turning red. "It was nothing," I reply. I smile and look down and kick the dirt on the street. _

_"Will you walk me home tomorrow so they don't bother me again?"_

_Was she asking me to spend time with her? And talk?_

_"Sure!" I say, "I'll see you after school tomorrow."_

_We did this for a couple of weeks, me walking her home. A couple of weeks after the initial incident, mom said we were moving. We would stay in the district, but I would have to change schools. We would be moving the day after my birthday so I could still spend my birthday with my friends. When I told McKenzi, she cried and I tried telling her it would be ok. _

_On my last day in town, I walked her home like usual, and she gave me a hug and another kiss on the cheek. Afterward, i looked in her eyes and said "This was the worst birthday ever." I looked into her eyes for a couple of seconds. I'm not sure what came over me, but I leaned in and kissed her on the lips. Her cheeks turned red, just like mine had the first time she kissed me. "I'm sorry," I say._

_"No," she says. "No, it's ok." She kisses me again and I wish I could stay in that moment forever, but I had to go back so we could leave._

_"I'm going to miss you so much," McKenzi says._

_"Hey," I say. "We have our first reaping in a few years. I never thought I'd look forward to one of those, but I'll try to find you, ok?"_

_She just nods._

_Every year I've looked for her, but this is the first time I've seen her in 7 years. She told me before we met our mentor that she pretended not to know me so that if I died, they wouldn't draw out my death to break her._

**A/N: So, I fully intended to write more POVs for this chapter, but I got really caught up writing the flashback. Sorry this was kind of a fluff chapter, and sorry that the flashback was completely cliché, but come on, they're 8. Anyway, like I said in the first authors note, rereading the District 6 reaping will make this chapter make so much more sense. Anywho, on to the trivia.**_  
_

**In the BOOK, what color dress was Effie Trinket wearing at the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games?**


	17. The Tribute Parade

A/N:** So a bunch of you were wondering how to pronounce Sianna's name. It goes (see AH nah.) If you've been saying it differently though, more power to you. Anyway, this is up a little later than I would want it to be, but it's a funny story really. I wrote about 1100 words for the first day of training before I realized that this came first. Then, I got three of the chariots written and it deleted. The struggle is real. Anyway, I hope you guys like this. Oh, btw nobody got the trivia, but Effie's dress was green. Remember to review!**

**No POV**

The tributes from District 1 definitely represent luxury. Ruby is dressed in a red ball gown with a diamond encrusted neckline and belt. Her stylist has this paired with black heels and a silver tiara dotted with -what else?- rubies. Her district partner is wearing a black suit with a red diamond in encrusted tie, like Ruby's dress. He also has shoulder pads, several medals on his lapel and a crown placed on his head. They are clearly supposed to look like royalty. When Jared lowers his lips to Ruby's, the crowd goes wild, chanting "District 1!"

The tributes from 2 are dressed as ancient Romans. Ethan is dressed in a bronze gladiator costume, and Sianna is in a pink and bronze flowing dress with a matching shawl draped over her shoulders. They are both wearing crowns not unlike the crown they present the Victor with at the coronation ceremony. When Sianna takes her shawl off. The dress seems to morph into a copy of the gladiator costume Ethan is wearing.

The tributes from the technology district are dressed as circuit boards. Arthur is wearing a dark gray long sleeved shirt and pants. Elizabeth has on a long sleeved knee length dress in the same gun metal color as her partner. Each of the costumes is dotted with multicolored flashing lights.

In the next chariot, Riley and Aiden are dressed as merpeople. Riley has a pink shell bra with a white mermaid tail. Her hair is in a loose side fishtail with pieces of tinsel and shells weaved in. Aiden is in green scaled pants and no shirt. His hair has been messed up and spiked with smaller pieces of tinsel in it. It looks like they both could have just stepped out of the ocean.

The tributes from 5 are taking a break from being dressed as atoms or power plant workers. Both are dressed in button downs with pens in the pockets and lab coats. They also have dress pants and shoes. They are the least exciting chariot until their costumes flicker a few times and burn away. Alicia's turns into a short white strapless dress with multicolored swirls all over it. Sam is in a similar suit.

After the District 5 costumes steal the limelight, the District 6 chariot has the plainest costumes. McKenzi is in a bright yellow sleeveless cropped to and a black skirt. She has a belt with the Capitol seal as the buckle. Luke is wearing a similar outfit, only with a yellow tank top and black shorts.

The District 7 stylists are also thinking outside the box. Instead of being dressed as lumber or paper, Rose and Chris are dressed as birds. Rose is wearing a high-low turquoise dress covered in feathers. She also has a matching cape that looks like wings. There is a tiara made of feathers perched on her head. Chris has a gray feathered suit and a matching cape.

There is no question of what district the next chariot is for. Natalie and Jake are both wearing tie-dye shorts, ripped jeans, fringe vests and sandals. They are also decked out with peace signs, which is ironic considering they're about to be in a competition where they have to fight to the death. The tributes held hands and the crowd loved it..

The tributes from 9 are dressed as grain. Grace is in a long gold dress with a straight skirt and gold pumps to make her look taller. Ryan was wearing a a long sleeved gold shirt and long gold pants with black shoes. Both wore head pieces that looked like the top of a wheat stalk.

Hayden and Margaret are dressed as cowboys. Instead of standing in the chariot, they are both riding their horses. They are both wearing tan shirts and pants, cowboy boots and cowboy hats and belts with big buckles. Both of their costumes is covered in glitter to reflect the light. Under her hat, Margaret's hair is in 2 braids. After only a few minutes, Margaret falls off of her horse.

In the District 11 chariot, both tributes are wearing matching bedazzled overalls. Melody is enjoying herself, waving and blowing kisses to the audience whereas James looks like he'd rather be in the arena. With the overalls, they have button down shirts and combat boots.

District 12 is the 4th chariot to think outside the box. Tributes from 12 have only ever been dressed as coal, coal miners or fire. Peyton is dressed in a costume similar to that of Rose from 7, only hers is yellow instead of turquoise and highlights her baby bump. Justin is wearing a black diamond encrusted suit with a bright yellow tie. On his head; a mining helmet. Together, they represent the canary in the coal mine.

**A/N: Did you guys like how I set this up? I really couldn't think of a better way to do it than to have no POV, because the alternative would be yo have 12. Remember to review! Don't forget to vote on the poll! And here's the trivia...**

**What were the names of each member of Katniss's prep team? (This doesn't include Cinna or Effie.) may the odds be ever in your favor.**


	18. Training Day 1

A/N: So in case you haven't read the chapter name, this is the first day of training. Er. Mah. Gerd. It feels like just yesterday I was brainstorming ideas for the Quarter Quell. Sigh, memory over. So don't forget to vote on the poll. Remember to review!

**Jared POV**

I was really pissed about what happened with Ruby and Josh, but after she told me that she was kiss-raped and assured me that she beat him up, I began to feel a little better. After we got to our apartment in the Training Center, we started working on our angles for the interviews. Mine was easy. Since I was 6'5" and from District 1, my angle was to be intimidating and scary. Ruby was a little harder. Usually, girls from District 1 are played up as sex icons, however, Ruby takes after her father from District 12, so she doesn't have the same blonde hair and green eyes that most of us have. She has straight black hair and piercing blue-gray eyes. Our mentor, who I've nicknamed Goldilocks wants to focus on Ruby volunteering for Savannah, but Ruby wants to be seen as a threat.

"Ruby, Jared!" Livian calls. "Up, up, up! It's the first day of training! You only get one chance to make a first impression!"

And we both knew how to make an impression. We didn't have anything specific that we were told to wear, so I out on a white muscle shirt, black jeans and black combat boots. I threw on a burgundy hoodie because I wasn't sure if the training center would be cold, since it was underground. When I get out if my room, I see Ruby was pulling the same angle of terrifying-ness as I was. She was dressed in a black tank top that showed off most of her stomach, as well as a fair amount of cleavage. She paired this with tight black capri leggings and black combat boots that looked close to mine. Her room must have been stocked with Capitol grade makeup, because her eyes were lined liberally with black kohl and her lips were blood red.

"You two look amazing!" Goldilocks gushes.

"Yep," says Ruby simply, reaching for a bagel.

"Well, eat quickly," Livian says. "You have to be down to training in 20 minutes."

Ruby and I both take our time eating. Puking up our breakfast in front if the entire Career pack would not be a pleasant thing for is to go through. I eat a muffin and something that tastes like heaven on earth

"It's called bacon," Livian says. "Don't eat too much or you'll get sick."

Ruby and I take the stairs to the training center since it's only down two floors and we don't want to get into the bad habits of the Capitol.

"What do you think of the other Careers?" I ask her.

"Both from 2 and the boy from 4 look good," she says. "The girl from 4 looks pretty small, but I watched a tape of the 74th games, and there was this girl Clove who made it to the final 6, and she was barely 5 foot. She was a dead shot with throwing knives, so I wouldn't underestimate Riley. Do you think there's anyone from outside 2 and 4 we should look into?"

"Well," I say. "Whenever there's a volunteer from an outlying district, it's something to look into. The girl from 10 looks beyond weak, even if she did volunteer. The dude from 7 looks like he could be a threat though, so we should watch him and see if he's any good."

By that time, we've arrived at the training center and a trainer pins the number 1 to my and Ruby's shirts. As soon as the head trainer finishes his speech, the boy from District 4 goes to where he was standing and shouts "I want the tributes from 1, 2 and 4 at the knife throwing station in 30 seconds!" Ruby looks at me and we both roll our eyes, but oblige.

"Alright," District 4 says. "I'm Aiden, and this is my district partner Riley." Riley gives a small wave and slight nod of approval.

"Jared," I say.

"I'm Ruby."

"Sianna," says the girl from 2 with a bloodthirsty smile. She looks as though she's already planned each of our deaths.

Her district partner partner pits his arm around her and says "I'm Ethan, the normal one." Ethan and Sianna are dating. Charming. In response, I raise Ruby's lips to my own and give her a soft kiss.

"Okay, enough of this shit," Aiden says. "Can any of you throw knives?"

Ruby rolls her eyes, grabs 6 knives and hits every bulls eye. Sianna does the same, but she goes for head shots instead of heart shots. I can tell that she wants her kills drawn out and painful, while Ruby just wants to do what she has to do to win. I don't have much if an opinion of Riley yet.

"Anyone else?" Aiden asks. Silence. "Let's go to spears." Everyone in huge group throws a spear, but only me and Aiden hit the bulls eye. Riley got a kill shot, just a couple centimeters off of the bullseye.

Sword fighting is where Riley's true colors show. She slashes and stabs at the trainers, better than anyone I've ever seen. At one point, she was fighting 3 trainers at once and winning.

Call it a girly weapon, but archery is what I'm best at. I make heart, head or neck shots on every dummy in the training center, even the ones at spear and knife throwing.

When the bell rings for lunch, we move 3 tables together and talk and laugh, affectively freaking out all of the other tributes.

**Sam POV**

Once we enter the training room out first morning in the Capitol, the Careers are all looking at me and Alicia like we're dead meat. Which, we probably are. A couple minutes after we get to training, the pair from District 10 comes in. The girl- Margaret, I think- is crying, and her district partner is doing everything he can to quiet her down. I feel Alicia stiffen next to me and she whispers "Ashley." I'm sure I wasn't supposed to hear that, so I pretend I didn't.

After the trainer finishes his speech, the boy from District 4 calls for his fellow Careers. Alicia rolls her eyes and tells me "I want to ally with the girl from 10."

"Leesh, are you insane?" I ask. "She won't make it past the bloodbath!"

"I don't fucking care! I want her in the alliance!"

I sigh. "Ok, whatever. Can we wait until after lunch to ask her?" I was hoping one of the smaller girls from the outlying districts would ask her before we did.

"Sure," she says.

Lunch comes and goes and Margaret isn't in an alliance yet. Alicia walks over to the knife throwing station confidently, and I walk just behind her.

"Hi Margaret," Alicia says. "I'm Alicia, and this is my district partner, Sam. We wanted to know if you wanted to be in an alliance with us."

"Why?" Margaret asks. That was the only thing I've heard her say, other than 'I volunteer as tribute.' I spaced out and stopped listening when she explained why.

"Truth or lying?" Alicia asks.

"Truth"

"Honestly, you remind me of my little sister Ashley. I love her more than anything and I don't know what I'd so if she was reaped. I want to see if I can help you win."

"Alright," Margaret says. "But there's something you should know about me... I'm trained. I don't want to be made a target in the arena, so I'm hiding my strengths."

I don't believe her for a second. "Prove it," I say.

She looks around to make sure nobody is looking, picks up a delicate looking knife and throws it. It hots the target with a satisfying _thwack._ The noise attracts the attention of all of the Careers, both tributes from 6, the boys from 7 and 11 (the four of them seemed to have formed an alliance) and the girls from 3, 7, 9 and 11, who were talking together but didn't seem to be in an alliance. Margaret paled from the attention before saying "Wow, good job Alicia!"

The Careers walked over to our station, as if they knew something. "Let's see that again," says the boy from 2.

Alicia trembles a little, but picks up one of the knives, copies Margaret's pose and lets the knife fly.

Dead bulls eye.

The Careers look surprised for a moment.

"Nice one, 5," says the girl from 1. "How'd you like to join our alliance?"

"Only if Sam and Margaret can join as well, and the 6 of you all leave. So, basically, thanks but no thanks." Alicia says.

The boy from 4 says "You're gonna regret that, 5." On their way to the spear throwing station, I hear him say "She's mine in the arena, you got that?"

**A/N: So, here's the update! I hope you like this chapter, I've been working on it for a week. Check out Lulubell2495's story called 'Temporary,' she updated recently. Don't forget to vote on the poll, and remember to review. Now, on to the trivia.**

**Name 3 different Capitol mutts and what try were created to do.**


	19. Training Day 2

A/N:** Katniss's prep team is Venia Octavia and Flavius. This chapter will have all new POVs so brace thine self. Also, I don't know if you know, but a lot of you have a crap ton of sponsor points. All you have to do is send me a PM saying what you want to send to who. Here's an example:**

_**Subject: Sponsoring**_

_**Hey, I wanna use 60 points to send Grace a loaf of bread and a 16 oz water bottle.**_

**Seriously, that's all you have to do. Anyway, don't forget to vote on the poll, because any tribute with votes is guaranteed to survive the bloodbath. The tribute with the most votes (currently Alicia) is guaranteed a spot in the final 8. Go vote for your favorites! Remember to review! Check out Lulubell2495's story called 'Temporary,' cuz it's really good. Alright, end of freakishly long author's note.**

**Sianna POV**

I don't care how much training the other Careers have gotten, or how prepared they think they are. I will come out of the arena alive. The others seem to think that the only important part of training is the weapons. I mean, yes, if it comes down to the final two, your knowledge of edible plants isn't going to be what wins the fight, but if the Career alliance breaks up early, I don't want to die because I mistook nightlock for blueberries. Plus, when the alliance breaks up, I plan on staying with Ethan. He'd do anything to protect me.

Gullible as always.

You see, I never really had any feelings for Ethan. I just knew that he liked me, so I've been entertaining him. I'm a spy for the Capitol. I informed them of everything going on in the district, and had the Gamemakers rig the reaping so that it was me and Ethan's brother. I knew he'd volunteer to keep his brother out if the games, as well as to protect me. With him as my district partner, I would be unstoppable in the arena. I could live the life I'd always wanted: the life of a Victor. I could live by myself in the wealthiest part of the wealthiest district. All I have to do is keep some promises with the president. As for Ethan... He's disposable.

Anyway, enough backstory. I walked away from the archery station, where the rest of the Careers were.

"Where are you going, babe?" Ethan says. I roll my eyes while my back is still turned.

"I'm gonna work on some survival skills," I say. "I'll see you for lunch, kay?"

"Sure."

I go to edible plants first with the girl from 4- Riley. The most tributes that aren't murdered die because they set something poisonous. We are told to find a partner and sort 20 plants into 2 piles: poisonous and safe. I pick up a long, curved yellow thing and am just about to put it in the 'poison' pile when Riley says "Have you never eaten a banana?"

I blush and put it in the other pile. "Guess not," I say. By the end of the test, we only misplaced 1 plant. We put a small dark purple berry called _menispermum_ in the non poisonous pile. The instructor said that a lot of people have died because they thought they were grapes. Menispermum was used by ancient people as a laxative, so over eating will literally result in Death by Diarrhea.

We notice that the only pair that got a perfect score was the girls from 7 and 9. They must die.

After edible plants, we go to the fire making station. In a half hour, Riley and I got to be experts. We both learned how to make a fire out of ice. Ok, that's probably not the most useful way of making a fire, but seriously, how cool is that?

By the time we're done bossing all over the weaklings at the rope climbing station, it's time for lunch.

"How was survival?" Ruby asks.

"We dominated everyone at everything," Riley says. "You should've seen the little girl from 3 try to start a fire- pathetic." I smirked and gave a 'you had to be there' nod.

For lunch, we all pig out on sandwiches, soup and sodas. We're all hoping to put on some weight for the arena, just on the off chance that we run out of food. If I die in there, it won't be because of something as stupid and unentertaining as that.

Wait, did I just contemplate the chance of my death? Shit.

**Rose POV (A lot of you really liked her. EVEN THOUGH YOU DIDN'T FUCKING VOTE FOR HER. So here's her POV)**

It seems like wherever me and Grace go, the girls from 2 and 4 are following us. And when they're not following us, they're with Elizabeth and Melody, the other half of our alliance. We split up so that we could hit all the stations in less time. Me and Grace are going to edible plants, shelter building and knot tying. Elizabeth and Melody are going to fire making, camouflage and fishing. Yesterday, we all did the ropes course and agility. Tomorrow, we're doing weapons together.

By lunch, we've done edible plants and shelter building. Elizabeth and Melody have been struggling at the fire building station all morning. We discuss what we learned over lunch.

"Basically, we can't start a fire unless we have matches," Melody says. Elizabeth nods grimly.

"Well," I begin. "Me and Grace were able to make a pretty decent lean-to, and we got a 20/20 on the edible plants test. The career girls looked really upset because they got one point less than us."

"There are a couple of really small differences that you have to look out for," Grace says. "Like how blueberries are white inside and nightlock is red, but otherwise they look the same. The only other difference is that nightlock will kill you in a minute, but blueberries are perfectly safe. And menispermum has a crescent shaped seed and grapes have circular seeds." Elizabeth nods and Melody smiles politely. Being from district 11, she already knew all of this. Elizabeth is the only one in our alliance that doesn't have any experience with plants. I'm from the lumber district, Grace is from grain and Melody is from agriculture, putting Elizabeth from the technology district a bit out of place with the rest of us.

"Well, if you guys have time, try the fire building station so we hopefully have someone with us that knows what to do," Melody says.

After lunch, me and Grace go to the knot tying course, where we find out that we can't tie knots for shit. We go over to the fire building station, pausing at fishing to tell Melody and Elizabeth to try knots.

Fire building comes pretty natural to us. Both my and Grace's families were relatively poor, so we had to light fires to keep warm. We don't learn anything super mind blowing or cool like fire out of ice, but we can get a fire started from leaves and sticks, which Grace and I count as a win. We field trip to knot tying and find Elizabeth excelling. Now, at least one person in the alliance had mastered each survival skill. Now, we play with the big boys.

**Hayden POV**

I swear, my District partner might literally be the death of me. This was the second day in a row that she came into the training center crying. I mean, I've been doing everything I can, but there's only so much you can do with someone like Margaret. I've tried telling her to be brave, to think of her allies as friends. I've told her that crying is a weakness. I've tried getting our mentor to talk some sense into her, but he's very blasé about her attitude. It makes me feel like they know something I don't, but what do they have to hide?

I make my way over to the spear throwing station and toss some spears in awkward silence with the guy from 9- Ryan or Brian or something like that. We each hit the target about 4 every 10 times. This goes on for about 15 minutes before I'm overcome with the worst existential crisis known to man. I've already had a past of pretty bad ones, but you can probably imagine they don't get better when you're reaped for the damn Hunger Games. I sink to my knees and put my head in my hands.

"Why do we exist?" I ask. I'm talking out loud, and he's the only one really within earshot, but I'm not necessarily talking to him. "We're we just put on this planet to me pawns of the Capitol? Could there have been any other future for us if we weren't reaped for the Hunger Games, or is this just nature's way of making sure we don't live past, what, 15? 16?"

"16," he confirms.

"Exactly. All the people talk about how unfair it is when 12 year olds get reaped, but has it ever occurred to any of you that it's simply because the 12 year olds are the youngest? I mean, if the competition was for ages 6-12, everybody would cry for the 6 year olds and root for the 12 year olds. Or, if it was 18-24, everyone would say 'No, not poor little Jimmy! He has his whole life ahead of him! He was supposed to get married, and find a job!' But it just so happens that this bullshit event is for 'young adults' ages 12-18, and the 18 year olds aren't played up as helpless children, but ruthless killers and sex icons. Do you think if this was for younger kids, the 12 year olds would be the sex icons just because they're the oldest of the bunch? I mean, Finnick Odair was only 14! I almost don't want to win, just because I don't want to become some Capitol prostitute."

The boy from 9 is speechless as he takes in what I'm sure he thinks is insanity. "I'm sorry," he says, "Hayden is it?" I nod. "Do you think you'd wanna form an alliance?"

I'm slightly taken aback. I had talked to Margaret about making friends, but in didn't think one of my rants would get me a friend of my own. "Sure, I guess. Remind me, is it Ryan or Brian?"

"Ryan," he says.

Together, we start making a plan for the bloodbath, and the games as a whole. Neither of us wants to win and become a sex symbol, but we sure as hell wanted to go out with a bang.

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the weak ending, but you get the idea. Also, this chapter kinda took longer than the rest just because I've been really sick and this is our last week before we preform our musical. Let me paint you a word picture: it's Wednesday, April 30, 2014 at 10:35 PM. Our first show is Friday, May 2, 2014 at 7:00 PM. Word picture painted. On a completely random note, go get you some. 10 extra points if you leave a legit review and tell me where that's from. Now, onto the real trivia.**

**What did Maysilee Donnor's family do for a living? **


	20. Individual Sessions Part 1 of 3

**Lilywater Brooksfield POV (Head Gamemaker)**

"Ruby Densberg," we hear. "District 1 female and your future Victor. Since we only have 7 days in the arena, I think it's important to work quickly." The petite brunette gives a cocky smile and walks to the throwing knives. She steps back until she is about 15 yards away and puts 3 knives in her right hand. She throws them all at once and each one hits the center of the same target.

"That's Sianna," she says.

She throws another 3 daggers and says "There goes her boyfriend."

_Thwackthwackthwack. _"Bye Riley!"

She then takes 5 knives in her left hand and one in her right and throws all 6 one after the other at a different dummy. A head shot, then the neck, the heart, the lung, the stomach and finally, the groin. "That's our so-called 'leader' Aiden."

After she pierces the heart of 4 of the dummies, she takes a dagger and slits each throat.

"Thank you, I look forward to seeing you after I win."

"You may go," I say.

We discuss her score and there is a murmer of agreement after only a moment of discussion.

* * *

"Jared Nilsen," the next tribute says simply. "District 1." He goes to the archery station and very simply shoots a dozen arrows, each hitting the bulls-eye. He gives a slight nod. "Thank you."

That was uneventful, especially for a Career. However, Jared was reaped, so he may not be quite as bloodthirsty as the rest of them. In a way it's refreshing, but I must say, I prefer Ruby. "He did well," I say. "But it was quite boring. However, it would be quite affective in the arena. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" There's a collective nod in the balcony before I say "Send the next tribute in."

* * *

"Give me someone disposable!" The female tribute from 2 says. "And make it quick."

After my initial moment of shock, I snap my fingers and a trembling Avox makes his way to where Sianna is standing with her hands on her hips. At the sight of the man, she snatches up two throwing knives and makes near fatal shots, one knife piercing a spot between his ribs, the other lodging itself in his side. The Avox falls to the floor clutching his side.

At least half of the gamemakers are shaking their heads, expecting more from a tribute from 2. I'm on the edge of my seat. "Oh, don't worry," Sianna says. "I can do much better than that." To prove her point, she grabs a knife and effortlessly hits the bulls eye of a target 10 yards away.

"I'm now going to demonstrate what I would do if a mediocre knife thrower- like that bitch from 5, for example- were to make a near fatal shot." She races over to the first aid and edible plants stations and returns with an armful of plants and bandages. The color is slowly draining from the young Avox's face.

When Sianna returns to the Avox, she has him sit down as she squeezes berry and plant juices on the wounds. She covers the wounds with some type of leaf and wraps them with a bandage, the only thing she took from the first aid station.

While the Avox is recovering, she snatches up 10 throwing knives and makes 5 head and 5 heart shots in a minute. She curtsies and saunters out of the room without being dismissed.

After her departure, no words are spoken. We all speak only in nods.

* * *

"I'd tell you my name," says the boy from 2. "But I'm sure you all already know what it is." I roll my eyes, not that he can see it. Typical Finnick Odair wannabe.

He goes to the spear throwing station and chucks 10 spears at the targets. All hit the target, eight are bulls eyes.

He quickly moves on to throwing knives. Again, he throws 10 knives. All are kill shots, 9 hit the bulls eye.

After knives comes archery. He grabs a sheath of arrows and shoots- guess how many?- 10 of them. 9 hit the target, 7 being bulls eyes.

He jogs to the sword fighting area. 10 must be his favorite number, because he destroys 10 dummies in 2 minutes. He sprints to fire building, creates a massive bonfire and chucks the remains of the demolished mannequins into the fire, then quickly puts it out.

"I'm out," he says. "Peace!"

Everyone looks excited in the balcony. Every tribute we've seen so far looks like a fighter. But all good things must come to an end.

* * *

"Elizabeth Perry," the small girl says. "District 3." She looks terrified. She goes first to the edible plants station and gets a perfect score. To prove it, she shoved all of the edible plants in her mouth at once. After, she goes to shelter building and constructs a simple lean-to. The last thing she does in climb up the rock wall then jumps 10 feet to the ropes course and climbs down that way.

"Thank you," she says, barely audible.

After she leaves, we all shrug, indifferent. She was amazing with the survival stations, but we never got to see her with a weapon, which makes me question whether or not she can use one.

* * *

"Hi, um. My name is, uh. Arthur. Arthur Watts. Um. District 3?" I was extremely confused. Weren't the citizens of 3 supposed to be smart?

Arthur goes to spear throwing and throws 12 Spears. Only four of them hit the dummy. One of those four was a fatal shot. His cheeks redden and he moves on to shelter building. He attempts the easiest form of shelter taught and it collapses on itself. He walks to the ropes course and falls when he's no more than 15 feet up. It isn't until he gets to snares that he's actually decent, but his traps are moderate at best.

"Thank you," I say. "We've seen enough."

The odds are not in Arthur's favor.

* * *

"Hi, my name is Riley, and I'm your next Victor." Excellent, back to the Careers. I was getting antsy.

Riley practically skips to the sword fighting area. A blind man could tell that she knew what she was doing and was excited to prove it. "I need your best trainer," she says. Without a moment's hesitation, our top sword trainer jogs over to Riley.

"Ready?" He asks the girl.

"As I'll ever be," she replies.

They circle each other for a moment before the trainer lunges. Riley deflects his blow with her sword and twists her blade affectively disarming her opponent. She takes his sword in her left hand, giving her the advantage of two blades while he is unarmed. She practically goes insane, slashing and stabbing at the man for a few minutes before I intervene.

"That's enough," I say. "Is there anything else you'd like to show us?"

Riley makes her way over to spears and throws them for a few minutes, until she appears to get bored of them. She makes about 90% of her targets.

"Can I go now?" She asks.

"You may."

* * *

"Forget anything you've heard or seen today, because I'm your victor." Aiden says.

Without further explanation, he sprints to the agility course and runs through it in 90 seconds. The precious record was 2 minutes and 15 seconds. After agility, still running at top speed, he climbs up the rock wall, jumps down and does the same with the ropes course. Having not even stopped to breathe once, he sprints past the knives, picks one up and slits 4 dummy's throats without hesitation. He grabs a water bottle and downs the entire thing before jogging to spears.

At the spear station, he throws 5 from 10 yards away and makes 5 bulls eyes. He repeats the process from 15, 20, 25 and 30 yards away, never not making a bulls eye.

"Thank you for your time," he says with a smile.

* * *

**A/N: So I'm making the private sessions into 3 chapters because if I didn't, this would be extremely long. So, those 8 scores are as follows:**

**Ruby Densberg: 10**

**Jared Nilsen: 9**

**Sianna Connard: 11**

**Ethan Peterson: 10**

**Elizabeth Perry: 5**

**Arthur Watts: 4**

**Riley Frise: 10**

**Aiden Ross: 11**

**I'll try to have the next round of training sessions out by Thursday. Remember to review! Don't forget to vote on the poll! It really helps me decide who I'm going to kill off in the bloodbath, nudge nudge, wink wink. ATM, Alicia has a guaranteed spot in the final 8 since she has the most votes and Grace, Ruby, Margaret, Aiden, Rose and Melody have bloodbath immunity. Anyone else is fair game to be brutally murdered by the hands of some of your favorite tributes. On that happy note, I have to go do homework. Byeas!**


	21. Individual Sessions Part 2 of 3

**A/N: Here's part 2. This will have the tributes from 5-8, so Alicia, Sam, McKenzi, Luke, Rose, Chris, Natalie and Jake. Pew. Pew pew. I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested. Let me know if you know what that's from. If you know, you're awesome. Check out Lulubell2495's story called 'Temporary,' cuz its really good Remember to review! Don't forget to vote on the poll!**

**Lilywater Brooksfield POV**

"My name is Alicia Schripe," the girl from District 5 says. "Let's get this over with." Why wasn't she more excited about this? I mean, this is where she gets to show us what she can do with herself. This could determine whether she lives or dies! Nevertheless, I watch intently as she walks to the edible plant station. She gets 100% on both edible and medicinal plants.

Next, the redhead goes to knife throwing. I feel myself growing excited, hoping that she is good with a weapon even if she is from an outer District. I'm not disappointed. She reaches for a knife and throws it cautiously and makes a bullseye. She repeats this process 11 more times.

"Can I have a sword trainer?" She asks. "About medium level?" A female trainer names Bolena jogs out with her sword. The two battle it out for a moment before Alicia disarms Bolena and pins her down.

I would think that after plants, knives and swords she'd be satisfied, but she moves on to archery. She grabs a sheath of a dozen arrows and shouts them rapid fire at twelve different dummies.

"I'm gonna go now," she says.

* * *

Alicia's District partner comes in shortly after Alicia leaves. He goes first to edible and medicinal plants and scores 96% on the edible plants and 88% on medicinal. He seems frustrated with his scores and gets a 100% on both when he tries again.

He moves on to logic and strategy, a station that is often overlooked by tributes. He is asked a series of questions and his answers determine whether he lives or dies. He places 9th place overall.

Finally, he goes to short swords and pummels a couple of dummies into oblivion.

"Thanks," he says

* * *

"McKenzi Phelps, District 6," the next tribute says. She starts pacing. "Now, I'm not going to give you any bullshit about how I know that I'm your next Victor, because I know I'm going to die in there. I'm from District 6. I don't have the advantage of being from a Career District and being trained my whole life for this. I'm not from 7, I can't use an axe. I'm not from 11, I have no knowledge of edible plants. I'm not strong like the tributes from 10 and I'm not as well fed as the children from 9. I'm not hard-working like the kids from 8, I'm not smart like the kids from 3 or 5, and I'm not used to starvation like those from 12. No, I'm upper-middle class from District 6. I'm a lover, not a fighter. But somehow, somehow I've managed to snag an alliance with 3 of the strongest tributes in this that aren't Careers. I'm partnered with Luke, from my District, Chris from 7 and James from 11. Why? _I have a way with words._ That's all I've got going for me. So if you could kindly give me a 6 or so, so that I can stay in said alliance, I'd appreciate it. Thank you for you time." With that, she exits the training center.

I look around the balcony at the other gamemakers. Should we give her the 6 that she wanted, or give her a 2 for essentially doing nothing?

* * *

"Hi, my name is Luke Franklin, and I'm here to do whatever I can to get McKenzi out alive," Luke says. Without any further words, he races to the agility course and finishes in slightly more time than Aiden did.

Then, he goes to the throwing knives and snatches up about 6. He pits them in his belt and races up the rock wall. He crouches on top of the wall and throws them at various dummies around the room. He doesn't make any bulls eyes, but every knife makes a kill shot.

Then, he makes a long cut down his arm with a knife and heals it using the medicinal plant station.

He salutes us with 2 fingers and walks out of the room, clutching his arm.

* * *

"R-Rose Klappe," the trembling 12 year old says. "7. I mean District 7." Blushing, the small blonde stumbles to the ropes course. She scurries up the ropes and to the very top in just under 3 minutes, the record being 1 minute and 45 seconds. She climbs down and races to the edible and medicinal plants and aces both test without half trying.

She moves on to shelter building and constructs a relatively complicated shelter complete with 3 walls, a floor and a ceiling. Then, she starts a fire inside the hut without burning it down.

She then moves in to snares and makes some traps of a size that could catch small animals like a rabbit or squirrel, but not another tribute.

"Thank you, Rose," I say. "You may go."

* * *

"Chris Blight!" The male from 7 yells. "District 7."

His routine starts off pretty predictable for a 17 year old volunteer from 7; he grabs an axe and decapitates some dummies. After that, he took a sword and cut all the arms off of the headless mannequins. He then took some throwing knives and chucked them into each of the dummy's hearts.

Following his death act, he goes to edible plants and aces the medium level test. He finishes his session with the ropes course, beating the record that was set 151 years ago by a young girl named Rue.

* * *

"'Sup bitches?" The next girl prompts. "I'm Natalie."

I'm extremely taken aback. This girl was 14, who did she think she was? Apparently, she thought she was Natalie.

"Instead of showing you what I can do, I'm going to show you what everyone else thinks they can do." She jogs over to the archery station, flailing her hands obnoxiously as she did so. She didn't take a bow, but just a sheath of arrows. "I'm a Katniss wannabe!" She says overly enthusiastic. She runs up to a dummy and pierces the neck with an arrow.

"That was Marvel," She says. She takes another arrow and lodges it in a different dummy's hand. "That was Cato."

She skips to tridents and does the same routine, just walking the weapon to the dummy and piercing it. Her voice goes ridiculously deep. "I'm Finnick Odair," she says. "Wanna sugar cube?" She cracks up.

"Thank you Natalie, but we've seen enough."

"Kay!"

* * *

"I don't know what my sister just did, but I apologize." That's right, the pair from 8 were siblings. What are the odds? Hint: not in their favor.

Jake goes to the spears and chucks a few aimlessly. A few of them stick, but not many. Hardly any of them were kill shots.

He decides that he's not getting anywhere with spears and goes to the survival section. He goes to weaving of all things. I'm surprised before I remember that District 8 manufactured all the textiles. He probably had a factory job. He makes himself some bowls which could probably hold some water or wild berries.

He seems a little lost before he decides to just leave.

* * *

**Alicia Schripe- 9**

**Sam Collins- 6**

**McKenzi Phelps- 7**

**Luke Franklin- 8**

**Rose Klappe- 5**

**Chris Blight- 9**

**Natalie Quimby- 3**

**Jake Quimby- 5**

**Yeah, I lied. The update is today, not tomorrow.**

**Trivia/Opinion: What do you THINK Haymitch's training score was? I'm giving points to the most... Believable answer. **


	22. Individual Sessions Part 3 of 3

**A/N: Sup bitches? So, just for a quick rundown, after this, I'm not going to write full interviews, just a snippet of the interview itself and what the tribute is wearing. I'm slightly altering the order in which tributes are interviewed, making the guys go before the girls. The reason I'm doing this is so that all of the interviews can be in Peyton's POV since she would be last in this scenario. So everyone except Peyton who hasn't had a POV yet will have one fpr the bloodbath chapter (Natalie, Ryan and Melody.) Alternatively, I can make the interviews ****third person or from the interviewer's POV and give Peyton a POV with the other 3. Let me know what you guys want to see. After that, the next chapter will be the bloodbath. Make sure you've voted on the poll, because any tribute that doesn't have any votes is fair game to be killed in the bloodbath. Remember to review! Oh, Check out Lulubell2495's story called 'Temporary,' cuz its really good and she just updated recently.**

**EXTREME LANGUAGE WARNING. BEWARE.**

**Lilywater Brooksfield POV**

"Grace, you have 15 minutes to show us what you can do. Your time starts now." We were all sick of hearing the other tributes be overly cocky (Ruby, Ethan, Riley, Aiden), bitchy (Natalie, Alicia), or apologetic (Jake) Grace stumbles to archery and shakilly strings an arrow. She lets the arrow fly and it hits the outer ring of the bulls-eye. She seems pleased with herself and repeats the process a few more times. Most hit the outer 2 rings, a couple fly past the dummy and 3 are bulls-eyes.

She walks a bit more confidently to the fire building station and makes a fire from some leaves. Just leaves. I don't even know how she did that, she just kind of did. After she is pleased with her fire, she goes to edible plants and gets a 100% on the advanced test. She then gets a 100% on the advanced medicinal plants test. She finishes off with the ropes course, making it to the top in 3 minutes.

_BZZZZZZZ_

"Thank you, Grace," I say. "Your score will be broadcasted later tonight. May the odds be ever in your favor."

* * *

"Ryan, you have 15 minutes to show us what you can do. Your time starts now." Ryan jogs to the spears and throws 20. Half of them hit the dummy, 6 hit the target and 2 are bulls-eyes.

He winces and walks to throwing knives. He probably figures that they'll be easier since they're smaller. Oh, how wrong he was. I can tell just by his stance that the odds are not in his favor. He let's the first arrow fly and it whizzes about a foot away from the dummy.

He realized that his efforts are probably futile and moves on to the survival stations. He goes to fishing and makes a couple of fishhooks out of some wire, rope, grass and other random things. I'm quite impressed. A lot of tributes from District 4 couldn't make hooks that well. He puts them to good use, catching a fair amount of fish.

Ryan's buzzer goes off and he exits with a curt nod.

* * *

"Margaret, you have 15 minutes to show us what you can do. Your time starts now." Margaret is close to tears as she walks to the throwing knives. She picks one up and chucks it haphazardly. It makes it about 3 feet before it makes a nose dive and sticks to the ground in from of her. She let's out a sob and falls to her knees.

"P-p-please d-don't let me d-die!" She wails. "I'll d-do anything!"

"Thank you Margaret, we've seen enough." She failed miserably, but as she leaves, I swear I see her smile.

* * *

"Hayden, you have 15 minutes to show us what you can do. Your time starts now." Hayden takes 24 dummies and lines them up in a straight line. Then, he goes to the camouflage station and returns with a substantial amount of paint.

He leaves the first 3 dummies blank. He paints _F U C K_ on the next four. He leaves the next one blank. Then, he paints _T H E _on the next 3. He again leaves one blank. On the next 8, he paints on _ L__ ! !_ and leaves the last 3 blank.

"Fuck you," he says. "Fuck your life. Fuck your family. Go to hell, all of you. We were put on the planet for so much more than your sick entertainment. Fuck off."

With that last remark, he storms out.

* * *

"Melody, you have 15 minutes to show us what you can do. Your time starts now." Melody walls over to the survival stations and gets a 100% on the double plants! medicinal plants, logic and strategies tests, all on advanced. She moves on to fishing and makes hooks almost as good as the tributes from four in previous years, but nowhere near as good as Ryan's. She moves on to shelter building and makes a hut that seems about big enough for 4 people. Basically, she excels at every survival station except fire making which she pointedly ignores.

She then does something completely unpredictable and moves on to weapons. The 4'8" 12-year-old girl from District 11 that cried during the reaping went to weapons. She started with slingshots, not an uncommon weapon for girls of her size. She gets down on one knee and fires at 15 dummies. She does fairly well, most rocks hitting the outermost ring of the target, some making it further in or out.

Her buzzer goes off and she leaves happily.

* * *

"James, you have 15 minutes to show us what you can do. Your time starts now." James jogs over to sword fighting and calls for a trainer. We send a trainer that is more advanced than Alicia's, but not quite as good as Riley's. James defeats him easily. I'm not particularly surprised, we saw his violent side at the reaping.

"More of a challenge?" He asks. We send our best trainer, the one that fought Riley earlier. They battle for about 5-10 minutes, but the trainer ultimately wins.

James moves on to spears and throws 20, each of them hitting the target, 13 of them being bulls eyes. The remaining 7 weren't too far off.

He finishes with the edible plants test and gets a 92% He looks like he wants to try again, but his buzzer goes off before he has the chance.

* * *

"Peyton, you have 15 minutes to show us what you can do. Your time starts now." Peyton walks awkwardly to the archery station. A District 12 female that's interested in archery. How original. I figured that with her being pregnant, she wouldn't be as good as some of the other tributes. Granted, she wasn't as good as the Careers, Alicia or Chris, she was pretty good with a weapon. She made about 85% of her targets.

Seeming pleased with herself, she moves on to shelter where she makes a structure that she could sleep under, but would fall if it were to rain or if there was a good amount of wind.

She walks back towards the weapons but her buzzer goes off before she can actually do anything.

* * *

"Justin, you have 15 minutes to show us what you can do. Your time starts now." Justin was the last tribute we had to watch, and frankly, I was getting mildly distracted by a fly that was buzzing around the room. That is, until a rock is thrown from below us and crushes the fly.

"Yeah," Justin says. "You're welcome."

He moves on to short swords and chops up some dummies. After that, he went to weights and threw some heavy stuff around. Lastly, he goes to snares and makes some decent traps that could catch an animal or a tribute. I'm sure he did more than that, but he was so damn boring. I'll have somebody else calculate his score, I want to take a nap.

* * *

**A/N: So here's the last batch of private sessions. Ok, ok, here's the scores.**

**Grace Hadely- 8**

**Ryan Polrain- 7**

**Margaret Cresta- 1**

**Hayden Pierce- 12 (I like to think that Katniss was given an 11 so that she'd be made a target in the arena, so that's what I did here, in case you were confuzzled.)**

**Melody Harrison- 8**

**James Enright- 9**

**Peyton Johnson- 6**

**Justin Hawthorne- 7**


	23. Interviews

**A/N: So here it is... The moment before the moment you've all been waiting for... The last chapter before the bloodbath! Yay! *Toots horn* Absolutely, whatever you do, DO NOT FORGET TO VOTE ON THE POLL. TRIBUTES WITHOUT POLL VOTES CAN DIE DURING THE BLOODBATH. ONLY THE TRIBUTES THAT HAVE VOTES ARE SAFE, AND THE BLOODBATH WITH BE THE NEXT CHAPTER! GO GET YOU SOME. Remember to review! Oh, and check out Lulubell2495's story called 'Temporary,' cuz its really good.**

**I almost forgot, the field hockey season is almost over, so expect updates more often. ^.^**

**No POV**

* * *

"So, Ruby, are you prepared for the arena tomorrow?"

"Absolutely. I'm ready for anything. There's nothing anyone can do to stop me from winning."

"That's amazing. Now, I heard a rumor that you and your District partner Jared are dating. Is this true?"

"Actually, Severa, we broke up last night."

_Ruby is wearing a short black lace dress with black pumps and silver jewelry._

* * *

"Hello Jared, I'm sorry to hear about you and Ruby."

"Well, it's probably for the best. I mean, there can only be one victor, right?"

"I suppose. Now, are you teaming up with the tributes from 1, 2 and 4 as is tradition?"

"Well, I'm teaming up with 2 and 4, but Ruby has decided to leave the alliance given our recent breakup."

_Jared is wearing a black suit with a white shirt and a light blue tie._

* * *

"Now Sianna, tell me about that training score. What did you do to get an eleven?"

"I shouldn't say. It would ruin the surprise."

"Oh, come on. Just one hint?"

"Fine, I'll tell you this: I guarantee it's nothing like anyone has ever seen before."

_Sianna is wearing a short dress that is leopard print at the top with a solid black skirt, with tan wedges and a leather cuff._

* * *

"Ethan, do you have a special girl back home?"

"Well, Severa, I do have a girlfriend, but she's not at home."

"Could you be talking about Sianna?"

"Who else?"

_Ethan is wearing a dark brown suit with a red tie._

* * *

"Elizabeth Perry, is there any relationship there with Caleb Perry, the most recent victor from District 3?"

"Yes, he's my brother and I hope he'll do anything and everything he can to get me home safe to our family."

"Isn't that sweet. Do you have a specific plan for the arena?"

"Yes, and I'm sure my allies will help me carry out my plan. They think it's brilliant."

_Elizabeth is wearing a knee length blue dress with a yellow floral print and white sandals._

* * *

"Arthur, do you feel as though you're at a disadvantage seeing how Elizabeth is being mentored by her brother?"

"Not at all. I'm in it to win it, and I don't need sponsors to help me."

"So, do you believe that your partner will have all of the sponsors?"

"Wholeheartedly."

_Arthur is wearing a blue suit and a silver tie._

* * *

"Riley, are you at all jealous of the fact that Aiden got an 11 whereas you got a 10?"

"I'm not sure if jealous is the right word. I'm happy for him. Besides, anything that is sent to him by sponsors is also sent to me, Sianna, Ethan and Jared as well."

"So no part of you wishes that you got the 11?"

"Bad things happen to people that are too sure of themselves. Look what happened to the victors after the second rebellion."

_Riley is wearing a knee length mint green dress with a pearl belt, pearl earrings and white wedges._

* * *

"Aiden, how do you feel having an 11 in training, but still being tied for second place? Any anger there?"

"I wouldn't say I'm angry. I'm more confused than anything else. Curious too, definately curious."

"Do you have any idea what Hayden might have done to earn himself a 12?"

"No, but I intend to find out."

_Aiden is wearing a blue suit and a green tie._

* * *

"Alicia, that dress is beautiful."

"Thank you, Severa. I wouldn't expect anything else from my stylist. Sagittaria is amazing."

"Speaking of amazing, what can you tell us about that 9 in training? I know I was impressed."

"Let's just say I know what I'm doing."

_Alicia is wearing a floor length purple to white gradient dress with dark purple heels and a diamond necklace._

* * *

"Sam, there's a lot of speculation here in the Capitol as to weather or not you and Alicia would be in an alliacne. Care to retaliate?"

"I don't think she'd want me to say one way or another."

"Ok, are you not not in an alliance with her?"

"I'm too smart to fall for that."

_Sam is wearing a white shirt, black pants and an orange tie._

* * *

"McKenzi, you look amazing. I love that dress on you."

"Thank you Severa. I think it's nice that we all get to look nice one last time before we're sent to our deaths. But, you know, happy memories, right?"

"Are you not a fan of the games?"

"What was your first clue?"

_McKenzi is wearing a short black dress with silver sequins and silver strappy heels._

* * *

"McKenzi looks great tonight, don't you think, Luke?"

"She always looks beautiful."

"What was that?"

"Umm. Nothing."

_Luke is wearing black pants, a dark gray shirt and a silver tie._

* * *

"Rose, do you feel disadvantaged considering you're only 12?"

"Not at all. I may be small, but brains can beat brawn any day."

"So, I take it you don't have a weapon of choice then?"

"I don't believe in murder."

_Rose is wearing a green high-low dress with white sandals and a sparkly green head band._

* * *

"Chris, do you have a plan for the arena tomorrow?"

"Do you remember Haymitch Abernathy, Severa?"

"Yes, I'm sure we're all familiar with Haymitch."

"My plan is to stay alive."

_Chris is in black pants and a dark green shirt with a brighter green tie._

* * *

"Natalie, how do you feel about going into the arena with your brother?"

*Slow blink.* "Is that even a question?"

"I guess not. Do you have a strategy for the arena?"

"Stay with Jake. Oooh! We could be like Cashmere and Gloss, but the same games! And I'm not gonna be a Capitol whore."

_Natalie is wearing a rainbow striped sundress and carrying her black heels._

* * *

"Jake, how do _you _feel about going into the arena with your sister."

"About the same as her. Were you even listening?" *Nervous laugh*

"Well yes, but-"

"It's not something I'm looking forward to."

_Jake is wearing a brown suit with a blue tie_

* * *

"Grace, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I have to say you're one of my favorite tributes this year."

"Thanks Severa. I'll be sure to think of your kind words when there's a knife pressed to my throat."

"What makes you think you're going to lose?"

"When was the last time the Victor was a 14 year old girl from 9?"

_Grace is wearing a short gold sequined dress with gold shoes._

* * *

"Ryan, what will you do to win?"

...

"O...Kay. Do you have family waiting for you at home?"

...

_Ryan is wearing a tan suit and a gold tie._

* * *

"Margaret, what made you want to volunteer for the little girl at your reaping?"

"Well, she sh-she was so l-little and I just knew she wouldn't m-make it."

"Do you think you could win?"

"I have some really good friends that are helping me get through it."

_Margaret is wearing a peach lace dress and white flats._

* * *

"Hayden, nobody has gotten a 12 in training since Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in the 3rd Quarter Quell. How did you get such a high score?"

"Fuck the Capitol."

"E-excuse me?"

"Fuck the Capitol."

_Hayden is wearing a black suit and a green tie._

* * *

"Melody, your dress is beautiful. It looks just like what you wore at your reaping."

"My stylist really liked my reaping dress, so she made a new one with a Capitol twist."

"What do you mean 'Capitol twist?'"

She twirls and her pink reaping dress turns multi-colored in the style of the Capitol.

_Melody is wearing a pale pink sun dress (at first) with black and white Converse._

* * *

"James, has anyone told you that you are considered to be one of the tributes with the best odds of winning?"

"Yep."

"How do you feel about that?"

"Fine."

_James is wearing a black suit and tie._

* * *

"Peyton, I have to say, out of all of the tributes, your dress has to be one of my favorites."

"Thank you Severa, I've been having a hard time feeling pretty lately."

"The baby?"

*Nods*

_Peyton is wearing a long white dress with gold trim and gold heels._

* * *

"Justin Hawthorne, are you related to Katniss Everdeen's cousin Gale?"

"He's my great great-uncle."

"That's impressive. We have 3 tributes related to historical figures from the second rebellion."

"Some coincidence, huh?"

_Justin is wearing a black suit and a gold tie._

* * *

**A/N: Omggggg! The next chapter is the bloodbath. Like, what? Now go vote for your favorite tributes or I will get forced to consider killing them. But I already have a pretty good idea of who's dying in the bloodbath. Anyone that already had votes has immunity from the bloodbath and since Alicia has the most votes as of right just now, she has a guaranteed spot in the final 8. Woot woot. Also, consider sponsoring a tribute/alliance after the bloodbath chapter. Trust me, after you read it, you'll really want to send some stuff to some people. There. There's your sneak peek of the next chapter.**

**Not trivia but still a question:**

**Pick 3 of the following tributes for the bloodbath chapter to be in. The 3 with the most votes will have bloodbath POVs.**

**a) Alicia**

**b) Ruby**

**c) Grace**

**d) Margaret**

**e) Aiden**

**f) Rose**

**g) Melody**

**Sidenote: When you chose the 3 tributes, there has to be a legit review attached to it, otherwise it will not count. May the odds be ever in your favor.**


	24. Bloodbath and Day 1

**A/N: So here it is! I'm really sad about this CUZ PEOPLE START DYING IN THIS CHAPTER. WTF even. Don't say I didn't warn you. And after you read this, you'll really want to sponsor some tributes. Just sayin'. Remember to review! I'm going to put up a new poll shortly after you read this and everyone that died in the bloodbath will not be on it. :'(**

**Alicia POV**

We're in the launch room and I've just opened up the closet to find my outfit for the arena. I'm in a black cami, and t-shirt, a tan jacket, cropped camo pants with black booty shorts underneath, black combat boots and ankle socks. Sagittaria pulls my hair up into a top knot and secures it with bobby pins.

"What do you think about the clothes? Do you have any idea what the arena will be like?"

She thinks for a minute. "Well, the jacket doesn't offer much protection from the weather and the boots are pretty standard arena wear, so I wouldn't expect any super harsh weather, but you never know with the gamemakers. Plus, there's a lot of layers, so some areas might be warmer or colder than others. You've got 2 different shirts, pants, shorts and a jacket. That means it could be cool in some places but it'll never be extremely cold considering you don't have an actual coat. But it could be pretty hot since you have a tank top and shorts."

I just nod. "30 seconds." I walk over to my tube and stand on my plate.

"20 seconds." This is really happening. There's a good chance that by the end of the games, I'll be a murderer.

"10 seconds."

I look over to Saggitaria. "Thank you," I say. She nods, holding her face blank.

Suddenly, my plate starts rising. I look up, hoping to catch a glimpse oft he arena before anyone else. I see a flash of light and nothing else before my head surfaces. I look in the mouth of the Cornucopia and see... Food. Just food. There are bags around the Cornucopia, but they are relatively small drawstring bags. I'm extremely confused until I glance up to the top of the Cornucopia. 20 feet up is where all of the weapons lay. There are the traditional Hunger a Games weapons, swords, throwing knives, spears and bows, but there are also tridents, crossbows and ninja stars.

"Attention, tributes of the 225th Hunger Games. The Cornucopia will self destruct in 30 minutes. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

A small voice in my head is wondering if the Cornucopia is going to explode because the arena will explode, but an even bigger small voice is screaming "OH MY FUCK, THERE'S LIKE 500 THROWING KNIVES UP THERE AND THAT ONE HAS A JEWELED HANDLE AND I WANT IT."

The Cornucopia is sitting on top of a large hill with the plates surrounding it. In order to go anywhere else, we'd have to climb down the hill.

"50, 49, 48, 47..."

Directly behind the Cornucopia is a wooded area that is not unlike previous arenas. That would offer some concealment, food and probably water, but you run the risk of running into most of the tributes.

"46, 45, 44, 43, 42..."

On my left is a bright white room that seems to be filled with butterflies. I don't understand that, but I decide to steer clear of it. I'm deathly afraid of butterflies and those could very well be mutts.

"41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36..."

On my other side, I see the ruins of an ancient city. There's all different crumbling building with all different signs saying things like "Pinegrove Middle School" and "Hillside Children's Hospital." There's also a fountain that doesn't work and streets full of potholes. I make this area my target.

"35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30..."

I look over my shoulder and see something surreal. It's a pale gray surface full of dips and craters. The sky is noticeably darker there and standing directly in front of it like I am makes it hard to breathe. Still, there's a strange sort of beauty to it that makes me want to set up camp there. It takes a sharp jerk of my head to the right to remind me that I want to go to the ancient city.

"29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24..."

There's walls set up between each area. I'm confused for a moment before I realize: the arena is a maze. There could be even more sections of this hell, each more terrifying than the next.

"23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18..."

On the plate on my immediate left is the girl from District 3. The boy from 12 is on my right. Margaret is 5 plates to my left and Sam is next to her. I breathe a sigh of relief.

"17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12..."

Nobody had ever spoken before the games had officially started; no one had a reason to. However, when I catch Aiden from 4's eye, he screams "You're dead, District 5!" I shiver.

"11, 10, 9, 8, 7..."

Was he right? Was I going to be just another tribute that died in the bloodbath?

"6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,"

No. I wasn't going to let that happen to myself. Starting now, I was going to do anything to keep myself safe until the final 2 with Margaret. After that, she was going to win.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the 225th Hunger Games begin!"

I'm fully prepared to grab a backpack and leave the bloodbath until I see Margaret struggling with the District 9 male. Without thinking, I sprint to the nearest bag and am thankful to find that there' say grappling hook and rope in it, as well as an empty water bottle, a small bottle of iodine, a small coil of wire, a compass and bizarrely, some shin guards. I put the water bottle, iodine, wire and shin guards back in the backpack, put the compass in my pocket and use the grappling hook to get to the top of the Cornucopia. I mastered the climbing wall and ropes course, so this is a breeze. I find that the only other tributes on top of the cornucopia are the boys from 3, 4 and 10. I grab a pack of knives and throw one at each boys. I hit the hearts of 3 and 10, but only pierce Aiden's arm. I curse under my breath.

I look onto the ground and see that the District 9 boy has pinned Margaret down and is pressing a knife to her throat. I take three knives and throw them rapid fire at the boy. He coughs some blood in Margaret's face and falls backwards, dead.

By now, Sam has found Margaret and is helping her up, using a blanket from his bag to clean up her face.

"Sam, Margaret!" Sam looks up and I look at the compass one last time. I toss it to them and scream "North! I'll be right there!" They nod and Sam slings his bag over his shoulder and sprints to the ancient city with Margaret. Both boys from 3 and 10 are dead. Dead because of me. Aiden had gone away with the other Careers, not wanting to be caught in the explosion. The boy from 3 had a bag, so I take it off of him and find it to be empty. I put my knives in it, along with another pack for Margaret and 3 short swords for Sam. I put that on my back as well. The last thing I grab from the top of the Cornucopia is a bow and a sheath of arrows. I put the bow in my left hand and put the arrows on my shoulder. Surprisingly, my load is pretty light.

I climb down the Cornucopia and hear "The Cornucopia will self-destruct in 15 minutes."

I look around and I'm the only one left. The supplies are relatively picked clean, but there is still one empty backpack and quite a lot of food. I grab the backpack and put in 6 rolls, some apples, dried fruit, crackers and beef.

"10 minutes."

I run as fast as I possibly can, and about 2 miles later, I find my allies and hear the explosion.

**Aiden's POV**

I can't fucking believe that the bitch from 5 got away. And with 3 kills! Even I only got 1.

Me and the other Careers are walking in the forest. We figured that the most tributes would go this way for the fresh water.

"How many did everyone get?" I ask. "I only got one; the girl from 12. The one with the kid."

"I killed the girl from 8, Natalie." Jared says.

"Anyone else?" I ask.

"I saw the girl from 6 kill the little one from 3." Sianna says

"Girl from 5 got the guys from 3, 9 and 10." I tell them. "I want her dead."

"Damn," Ethan says.

I go into one of our many packs and pull out 2 tents. "Me and Ethan will set up the tents; one for the guys and one for the girls," I say. "Jared, start a fire. Riley and Sianna, fill the water bottles." We're a little short with Ruby being gone, but I never liked her anyway.

After we set up the tents, I throw sleeping bags and blankets in both tents. Ethan spreads out some blankets by the fire so we can discuss strategy. The one thing we did wrong was that we didn't end up grabbing any food.

Sianna and Riley come back with a pack that I didn't realize they took with them. Riley opens it up and it's full of berries. Sianna is holding a dead rabbit by the ears in one hand and the bag with the water bottles in the other.

"Told you edible plants wasn't useless," Riley says. I nod in approval and skin the rabbit. Jared had just finished making the fire, but it was large and strong.

"You know how to cook this?" I ask him.

He nods and takes the rabbit. After it's done, we eat the meat and berries and drink some water for dinner

"I want at least 3 dead tomorrow. Understand?" I say to them.

"Yeah, but who?" Sianna asks.

"Well, I'd like the girl from 5 to die, but she's not going down without a fight, so let's aim for the weaker ones tomorrow. I'd say the girls from 7, 9, 10 and 11 and the guys from 8 and 12."

"The girls from 7, 9 and 11 have an alliance, at least I'm pretty sure," Jared says.

"Excelent," I reply. "Three at once."

**Rose POV **

I'm trying to hold back tears, but I just can't. One of our alliance members is already dead, and it's not even day 2. Elizabeth was the smartest and fastest in our group. That's why she decided that it should be her that got a bag from the Cornucopia.

I saw the whole thing happen. The pair from 6 was running away from the Cornucopia. They had gotten their bearings, so they had backpacks and swords. Elizabeth didn't see them, she was bent over the backpacks. I tried to call out to her. The girl just... Stabbed her. Right in the throat. By the time I got to her, she had stopped breathing. All I could do was grab 3 backpacks and some food and sprint over to Grace and Melody.

Now, we were sitting on the ground in the forest sorting through our packs. Mine had an empty water bottle, some iodine, about 10 feet of rope, an awl and night vision glasses. We were thankful for the awl because we didn't have time to get weapons. The night vision glasses were useful too. Grace's bag had a sleeping bag, a blanket, a water bottle, iodine and a small coil of wire. Melody had a sleeping bag, matches, an empty water bottle, iodine, and a small first aid kit.

We walked through the woods until we found a cliff. We climbed down and set up camp there. Melody and Grace used their sleeping bags and Grace gave me her blanket.

The Panem anthem plays and the entire sky lights up. We are greeted by the face of Elizabeth first. I choke back a sob, but keep watching so I know what I'm up against. After Elizabeth comes her District partner Arthur. Then, the girl from 8. My heart breaks for her brother and what he must be going through. Grace stiffens next to me when her District partner's face lights up in the sky. Then comes the boy from 10. I'm surprised that Margaret from 10 isn't in the sky before him. Maybe she found allies. The final face is Peyton from 12, the pregnant one. 6 deaths.

The anthem turns off and my dreams are haunted by Elizabeth's corpse.

**A/N: Aww man... Yeah, I killed them. **

_**Eulogies**_

_**Elizabeth- **_**Girl, you were one of my favorites. You were so pure and kind, but extremely sassy. Sadly, you wouldn't have been able to win, and if I didn't kill you now, I never would have had the balls to do it. You'll live on forever. *Gives three-finger salute.***

_**Arthur-**_** I... Really didn't like you. You were too stuck up and overly cocky. I like sassy, but you were just douchey. Not to mention, there was absolutely no way I could have had any plans for you. You openly disobeyed your mentor, got a 4 in training and nobody liked you. Good riddance.**

_**Natalie-**_** Oh man. I know I'm gonna get a lot of shit for this in the reviews. I was in LOVE with your character. Like, I had a serious 1st tier girl crush on you. Sadly, the Gamemakers would not have allowed you to win. You dissed the Capitol in your interview and embarrassed the Gamemakers in your private session. I still love you though.**

**_Ryan- _What can I say? You put up with Hayden during training and were quietly powerful. You were a kind heart that could never kill anyone, which is exactly why you couldn't win.**

_**Hayden-**_** You were one of my favorites. I think I subconsciously modeled you after my brother, which kinda got creepy after a while. I couldn't deal with giving him a gruesome death later in, but again, the Gamemakers would never let him win. Plus, you remind me of me, with the existential crises and hatred of the Capitol. You will be missed.**

_**Peyton-**_** You were 16 and pregnant. You couldn't have killed anyone, not with your baby. You were just too kind, too gentle. But you'll always be our canary in the coal mine.**

**Don't forget to vote on the poll! Remember to review! Check out Lulubell2495's story called 'Temporary,' cuz its really good.**

**Trivia: How long did the 74th Hunger Games last?**


	25. Day Two: Man Down

**A/N: Was that really necessary, Hannah? God. Anyway, here's day two. Check out Lulubell2495's story called 'Temporary,' cuz its really good. Also, I updated my poll, so go vote on that. Remember to review and sponsor a tribute now that the bloodbath is over. Luv you guys!**

**Margaret's POV**

We decided not to take inventory of our supplies until today. All we did last night was rummage around in the bags until we found something we could use to sleep on. The floors in the building we were in were really cold. Sam had a blanket and a sleeping bag in his pack, so I slept in the sleeping bag, Sam used the blanket and Alicia kept watch.

The next day, Alicia spread out the items from her supplies bag. She had a water bottle, some wire, a grappling hook and rope, iodine and some shin guards, which we were all curious about.

In her food bag, she had 6 rolls, 2 sleeves of crackers, 4 packs of dried beef, 5 packs of dried fruit and 3 apples.

The weapons bag had 2 packs of throwing knives, one pack had large and the other had small. She gave me the smaller ones and kept the larger ones for herself. She also had 3 short swords for Sam. Not in the bag was her gold bow and arrows.

Sam's bag had the blanket and sleeping bag, a water bottle, some rope, a pair of socks, a bar of soap and a wrench.

We were set for food and supplies, but had absolutely no water. Sam thinks that there might be a way to fix the fountain to get water, but Alicia won't let him try. She says that it would give away our location to anyone around.

"Leesh, do you think there's anywhere here for us to get water?" I ask.

"I'm not sure. Let's take a walk and see if we find anything." She takes out her compass. "The Cornucopia is south of here, so let's keep walking north."

After walking for a couple hours, we come across a cliff. Down about 70 feet is a rushing stream. My knees go weak.

"Awesome," Sam says. "All we have to do is climb down and we can set up camp a little while away so we'll always have fresh water." I think I might start shaking when he suggests climbing down.

"Margaret, are you ok?" Alicia asks. "You're shaking and you look pale."

I take a deep breath. "I- I can't." I stutter. "Do you think there's another stream somewhere?"

"Are you afraid of heights?" Sam asks.

"Not... Heights." I say. "I'm more afraid of falling... And dying... It's just so high up. Do you think there's another stream somewhere?" I repeat.

"I guess we could see if there's a way to get down other than climbing," Sam reasons.

"Alright, we'll walk about a mile in either direction, but if we can't find a slope, we're climbing."

We start with walking east. It seems like we're walking uphill. We decide to turn back before we finish our mile. It seems pointless to keep walking further above the creek.

We start walking west again. After we cover the quarter mile or so that we already walked, the ground starts to flatten out. It doesn't seem to get much higher or lower.

The sun goes down and Alicia says "We'll set up camp here for tonight, but tomorrow, we're climbing down. Sorry Margaret, but we need water."

"Yeah, I think that may be a problem," Sam says. He points behind us, and I notice the first mutt ambling toward us.

**Grace's POV**

We wake up the next morning incredibly thirsty.

"We should look for a stream or something," I say. "I mean, there has to be fresh water in a forest, right?" The other girls nod. "Ok, everyone grab a bag."

Ever since last night, I've been the unspoken leader of the alliance. They would probably do anything I said as long as I gave them a reason to. We decide to walk downhill. Since water flows downhill, we could probably find the end of a stream and then walk up stream to some cleaner parts. Right?

Wrong.

We do find a creek. We fill up our bottles and drop some iodine in them. I've never been so excited to drink water. The iodine needed to sit in the bottles for 30 minutes. I hear some rustling in the bushes and voices. I look around, panicked. We had hidden our bags in some taller grass for this particular situation.

_Hide, _I mouth.

I run quietly to the tall grass where our supplies are. Rose hides in a bush and Melody quickly scales a tree.

"Yeah, this is where we went yesterday," someone says. I recognize it as the girl from District 4 and shudder.

Suddenly, one of the guys says "Hey, I think I found someone!"

My entire body freezes even though I'm about 700% sure they're not talking about me.

The girl from 2 throws a knife into the grass and Rose yelps in pain. I peek through the bushes and see all 5 Careers surrounding her. The boy from 1 strings an arrow and sends it through Rose's gut. I look up to Melody's tree, catch her eye and mouth _stay. _I quickly and quietly unzip one of our backpacks and grab the awl.

I run up behind the boy from 1 and plunge the awl through his neck.

_Boom_

_Boom_

2 cannons go off, telling me not to worry about saving Rose or finishing off Jared. I suddenly find myself surrounded by the 4 remaining careers.

"I don't plan on going down without a fight," I say. I take the awl and pierce the groin of the District 4 guy. The next thing I know, his spear is lodged into my skull. Before I can even think, my world swirls into darkness.

_Boom_

**Justin's POV**

3 cannons went off today. Even though I know it's terrible, I can't help but hope that it was either some of the Careers, the girls from 5 or 9, either from 6 or the male from 11. They're the threats at the moment.

At the bloodbath I grabbed a small backpack that was near my plate, which turned out to be all I needed. It had some rope, a large coil of wire, a water bottle, some iodine, a dagger and some matches. Surprisingly, the water bottle was filled.

After the bloodbath, I sprinted through the forest until I reached a fence. I climbed over it and was no longer in a forest, but a vast desert. I started walking through it and set up camp about a half mile away from the fence. Every time I needed food or water, I'd just go to the forest and check my snares.

Apparently, the girl from District 1 had the same idea as me. Yes, the girl from 1. The one that made me weak in the knees thinking about her. But, she didn't feel the same, and there can only be one Victor, so when I ran into her- literally- I wasted no time pinning her to the ground and holding my dagger to her throat.

"Stop!" She gasps. "Stop! I want to be allies!"

"Why?"

"You got a seven, right? In training?"

"Well... Yeah. But didn't you get, like, a nine?"

"Actually a ten."

"Then why do you want to be allies?" I lighten the pressure of the knife slightly.

"You seem useful. And... I think you're cute." Her cheeks turn slightly pink at her confession.

"Do you have any weapons?" I ask her, pretending to be unfazed. Inside, I felt like doing a backflip.

"I've got some throwing knives, spear heads and a short sword," she says. "I have food and supplies too. Trail mix, granola bars, flashlight, Walkie talkies, a couple nets and full water bottles... I don't even know what else. Maybe a spile?"

I pretend to consider it. "Ok, yeah. We can be allies. I set up some snares in the woods a couple hours ago. Want to go check them?" She nods. "I'm Justin, by the way."

"Ruby."

There's 2 squirrels and some kind of bird in my traps. We carry them back to the desert and light a fire to cook one of them. While the bird is roasting, I notice the long cut on Ruby's jaw.

"Oh my god," I say. "I think I cut you!" She puts her fingers to her chin and they come up bloody."

She inhales sharply. The next thing I know, there's a silver parachute floating down toward us. Ruby opens it and finds some sort of cream. There' say note attached which she quickly reads, rips in half and shoves into the outside pocket of one of her bags. She applies the cream to her cut.

"Do you think the bird is ready?" She asks. I poke it with a knife and it doesn't come out bloody.

"Yeah, it's done." We eat in silence.

After we're done eating, the Panem anthem comes on. I let out a sigh of relief when first person to appear in the sky is Ruby's District partner. She let's out a sound somewhere between a sigh, a laugh and a sob. It takes me a minute before I remember that they broke up not even 3 days ago. The next person is the girl from District 7. She was only 12 and I'm surprised that she made it past the bloodbath. I'm excited to see the girl from 9 after the girl from 7. Even though she was only 14, she got an 8 in training, which is better than I did.

"I'm getting tired," Ruby says. "Would you mind taking first watch?"

"Not at all." I reply.

After I'm sure she's asleep, I go to her bag and retrieve both pieces of the note. I out them together and it reads: _Nice job Princess._

I'm being used.

_**Eulogies**_

_**Jared- **_**My quiet Career. :'( I was planning some Ruby/Jared arena drama, but the time felt right. If you guys were really looking forward to Ruby/Jared arena drama, let me know and I'll write a one-shot. Maybe. Uch. Anyway, Jared was probably my favorite Career, just because he was so un-Career like. He was just a person who was trained on the off chance that he was reaped, which just happened to happen. #WeLoveYouJared**

_**Rose- **_**Rose was another one of my favorites, and a lot of you liked her too, but I really needed her to die in this chapter. Grace needed to be a fighter, and there was no other way I would have it.**

_**Grace- **_**I absolutely adored your character. At the very beginning, I actually planned on killing you in the bloodbath. I had no idea people would like you this much. But you died a fighter and that's what really mattered in the end.**

**Trivia- Which tribute tried to bring a spiked poison ring into the arena?**

**GO SPONSOR A TRIBUTE. GODDAMN.**

**Let's get this fanfiction to 60 reviews! Please?**

**Ok, let me rephrase that: This fanfiction will not be updated until it hits 60 reviews. Mwah!**


	26. Day 3 Part 1: Oblivion

**A/N: And now... now... now... For the main event...ent...ent. THE FINALE!**

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**.**

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**Bop. Welcome to Day 3. Remember to review! Don't forget to vote on the poll! Check out Lulubell2495's story called 'Temporary,' cuz its really good.**

**Ruby's POV**

Around 2 in the morning, I wake up and take watch for Justin. Once I'm sure he's asleep, I check my bag to make sure that the note is still there. It's still in the pocket I put it in. This makes me really happy because it means that I can trust my ally. I purposely put it in an obvious place to see if he'd notice it was there. If I really didn't want him to see it, I would have thrown it in the fire or eaten it or something.

_Nice job, Princess._

Not to be completely cliché or anything, but those words haunted me. My dreams were riddled with that note, of Justin finding it. Of me losing his trust. Of him killing me. I try to take my mind off of the dreams, even though I'm perfectly aware that that's all they were; dreams.

I'm surprised that I didn't wake up screaming.

I sort through the supplies, evenly distributing the weapons, food and supplies between the two bags. This way, if Justin and I get separated, we'd be alright on our own for a while.

Justin wakes up around 8 and I suggest going into the forest section to hunt.

"Why," he says. "We have plenty of food."

"I meant hunting for tributes, not food." I tell him.

"Once a Career always a Career," he says.

I shrug. "I just want it to be over."

"The games, you mean?"

Of course he'd think that. I hadn't told him my plans. Let him stay naïve for a while. Before he breaks.

"Something like that."

We climb the fence to get into the forest, after making sure that all remnants of the fire are gone. The last thing we need is Aiden, the boy from 11 or even the girl from 5 finding our hideout and killing us. I know they're all capable.

"It's funny," I say as we're walking. Justin looks puzzled. "Most teenage girls are worried about which dress to wear to school dances and how to do their hair for a da- um, school. Now, me, Riley, Sianna and all the other girls in the games are worried about being killed in our sleep. Or prostituted. It's a lose-lose situation, really."

"What made you think of that?" Justin asks.

"I'm sick of being from 1," I say. "You know, my dad was from 12. My parents were in the hunger games together. I was conceived in the arena. My mom made it out, obviously. It came down to them in the final 2. My dad committed suicide so I could be born. Everyone says I look like him. I'm supposed to be like you. I guess that's why I wanted this alliance. You remind me if what my home should be like. I love my half-sister to death, but a lot of times I wish I lived in 12. Then I remember how it's supposed to be such a privilege to live in district 1... If you don't mind my asking, what's it like in 12?"

"It depends on the day, really," he says. "People are dying of starvation all the time. And there's always the constant fear of being reaped hanging over our heads. We have to take out all possible tesserae to try to survive. But we have our family. And friends, too. That's all we really need. It isn't much, but it's home."

"District 1 is nothing like that." I say quietly. "All the people care about is winning the games, bringing pride to our District. I'll be the first to admit, I've been trained. I never planned on volunteering, but a friend of my little sister was reaped. She was 13, didn't stand a chance, poor thing. The only reason I was trained in the first place was in case I was reaped and no one volunteered. But yeah, my little sister is the only one I truly care about. I mean, I had Jared, but he... Yeah."

I hear the subtle _ting _of a sponsor gift. I wait for it to land at our feet, but it doesn't. It lands in a tree not 5 yards away. I look up and see the 12 year old girl from 11 struggling to hide herself among the leaves. Even from here, I can see cuts and scrapes down her arms and legs. It doesn't look like anything she could've gotten from another tribute or a mutt, more along the lines of she fell out of a tree or something. I take out a throwing knife and chuck it to her hiding spot. It hits her right shoulder and she falls backwards, 30 feet out of the tree. I pin her down to the ground and slit her throat. A quick and relatively painless death.

_Boom_

After her cannon goes off, I look into her parachute and see another container of the medicine that I got for my neck wound and place it in my bag. Now I had backup.

"Nice job, Princess."

I turn and see Justin with a betrayed look on his face.

"You should really burn things when you're done with them."

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**Sam's POV**

After the incident with the mutts yesterday, Margaret has refused to leave the side of the river. The mutts were terrifying to each of us, only we each only understood part of it.

The first butterfly I saw, I thought absolutely nothing of. In fact, it was quite pretty in a depressing set up. Margaret seemed overjoyed to see something colorful in the midst of such a dreary landscape, but Alicia paled and started shaking a little. I vaguely remember her saying something about a fear of butterflies. Then I noticed a few more butterflies trailing behind. And another dozen; another hundred; another _thousand._

It was then when I noticed the smell of gasoline filling the air. With every foot more that the butterflies advanced, the scent got stronger. Usually, when I mention my fear of gasoline, people think I'm weird, but hear me out: it fuels fire, is one of the main ingredients in powerful bombs, and is probably the most unpleasant thing I can think of to drown in. Come on now, who in their right mind wouldn't be afraid of it.

What happened next would scare anyone in the Hunger Games, even if you didn't have a fear of heights. The butterflies joined together to drop all of our supplies into the river. All but one bag-the one with the weapons- and Alicia's bow and arrows were completely destroyed by sharp rocks and a rapid current. That left us with a bow, 12 arrows, 3 swords and 24 knives. Which would be cool except now we don't have water bottles, iodine, sleeping bags, food or other necessities. So, to reiterate, it's not cool.

After the supplies came us. Alicia had the common sense to strap the weapons bag onto her back so it didn't get destroyed. She also gave her bow to me and the arrows to Margaret since they wouldn't fit in the bag. Margaret grabbed Alicia's hand just before the butterflies took us by the collars of our shirts and dropped us off the edge of the cliff. Margaret screamed the whole way down. We landed with a _thud _not 10 feet away from the riverbank. Alicia had the misfortune of landing on her back. One of the throwing knives found its way through the flimsy material of the bag embedded itself between Alicia's shoulder blades.

"Oh my God!" Margaret cries. "Do _not_ try to take the knife out. Currently, it's acting as a plug to keep you from bleeding to death. A tourniquet would act similarly, but it would be too risky to try and make one with what little supplies we actually have." She takes off her jacket and t-shirt, revealing the tank top underneath. She wrapped the t-shirt around the wound and ordered me to hold it in place, after i wash my hands in the creek. Don't want it to get infected.

Once I take hold of the t-shirt and knife, Margaret takes out her pigtails and turns them into a single high pony-tail. She unzips the backpack, taking out the 3 short swords and all of the knives except the one lodged in Alicia's back. She uses one of the knives to cut away the fabric surrounding the knife, leaving our backpack with a 4 inch hole in the back. She scrunches up the fabric and secured it with her remaining hair elastic.

"Could we get something from a sponsor, please?!" She says, enraged. "Or our mentors, stylists, prep-teams, escorts, Severa, Lilywater, fans of Annie Cresta, ANYONE?!"

But this was yesterday. Margaret has stayed with Alicia ever since. I've gone hunting and fishing, managing to catch some, although we had to eat them raw. Alicia hasn't had much of an appetite, only chewing some herbs on occasion.

And the sponsor gift that could mean life or death still hasn't come for her.

* * *

**McKenzi POV**

"'Run straight ahead' they said. 'Nobody's gonna go there,' they said" I'm referring, of course, to the rest of my alliance, Luke and Jake. We had seen most tributes go into the woods, a handful go to the ancient city and none go to the moon, but we decided to go into the plain white room that had been more hellish than anything else in the arena could possibly be. End. Of. Story.

The room seemed to be flickering between a windmill full of zombies, a jungle with ranging wild animals with sharp teeth and an ever shrinking room. It became clear to us pretty soon that we were each faced with our fears. Jake had the zombies, Luke- my Luke- was afraid of the animals, and I had terrible claustrophobia. As soon as one of the terrors was about to be the end of our lives, it changed to a different scene. Zombies, animals, room, repeat. 3 days of it with little supplies more than some packaged food and a machete. None of us had gotten any sleep, and we couldn't get out the way we came in.

In the middle of the third day, we were going through the normal routine. Attacked by zombies, chased by tigers, forced into a closing room. Suddenly, after the walls closed in, instead f being taken to the windmill, we were seemingly transported to one of the outer District's town squares. There's 4 people being hanged. A middle aged man and woman with chocolate brown skin, black hair and tattered clothes, a small girl that looks just like them, and a pretty girl around Jake's age with tan skin and dark brown hair tied up in a pony tail.

We look at each other, confused, and before we fully process what is going on, the scene changes again to a massive body of water, expanding in either direction. In the distance, I see two figures coming towards us. At first, I think they're sharks.

"Ok, who changed their fear?" I ask. "Sharks? Drowning?"

"That would be me." I turn in the water and am face to face with the boys from 7 and 11. Luke and I watch helplessly as the boy from 11 pulls out a knife and slits Jake's throat. Before his body can reach the bottom of the pool, the scene changes to the jungle full of rabid animals.

"What were your training scores?" Asks the boy from 7.

"8," Luke says.

"7," I say quietly. Before I know what is happening, a knife is being sent towards my skull. It finds its mark in my right temple, and the last thing I see is the hanging forms of James's family, before plunging into oblivion.

My next greatest fear.

* * *

**Sianna's POV**

I'm sitting on a log next to Riley, sharpening my knives. We've been hiking for a few hours without running into anyone, but we've heard 2 cannons today. I'd bet my life that Ruby was responsible for at least one of them. Since we haven't done much today, Riley and I are sharpening the weapons (Aiden said it's because we're just girls), Ethan is filling water bottles and sorting supplies and Aiden is, eh-hem, 'supervising,' and by that I mean sitting on his lazy ass eating dried fruit.

I wish he'd die already. But no, I have a plan. I'm going to make damn sure that it's the four of us that get to the final 4. I'm sure that he'd come after me first. He's mentioned more than once that since Ruby is gone, I'm the weakest one left. Never mind the fact that we tied training scores. Anyway, Ethan would die for me, and once Aiden has finished off Ethan, I'll surprise him with a knife in his back.

The only flaw in an otherwise perfect plan is Riley. I hate to admit it, but I'm legitimately starting to care for her as a friend, not just an ally. I don't think I could actually kill her, but I can't just... lose. Can I? No. No I can't.

"How are the weapons coming, ladies?" Aiden asks.

"Well," Riley says. "My sword is coming along pretty well, what do you say Sianna?"

"My knives are getting to be pretty sharp," I respond. "I was going to start Ethan's sword next since he's working so hard getting water and organizing supplies."

"What about my spears?" Asks Aiden, agitated.

"Eeeh," says Riley.

"They're all the way over there," I contribute, waving my hand toward Aiden's spears.

Aiden crumples up the wrapper from the dried fruit and chucks it at my head. I take one of my knives and throw it at his head. It misses his ear by not even 3 inches.

"Sharpen your own damn spears," I say. "Or next time, I'll make sure that I don't miss."

He rolls his eyes but sits on our log with his spears just the same. I finish sharpening my knives and move on to Ethan's sword. I finish his sword and help Aiden with some of his spears, just because I've run out of things to do, and Riley started helping him a while ago, anyway. Once we finish sharpening all of the weapons, I realize that Ethan has been gone for a pretty long time.

Just as I'm about to ask "Do you know where Ethan is?" he comes barreling through the trees screaming "MUTTS!"

We grab as much of our supplies as we can and run for it.

* * *

**_Eulogies_**

**_McKenzi-_ McKenzi... See, what had happened was... You needed to die now. Ever since I plotted out your relationship with Luke, I needed you to die like this. By his side, with him unable to help you. You will be missed, girl.**

**_Jake- _I couldn't have allowed you to win, not with Natalie being dead. You would be too broken. But now you're with your sister. In a better place with no Hunger Games. And by that, I mean capital S Somewhere.**

**_Melody- _Another one I'm going to get a lot of shit for. Sigh. You were my Rue, in all honesty. You were one of my favorites, but you couldn't win. For that, I'm sorry, but you've joined the rest of your alliance now. In capital S Somewhere.**

**Remaining tributes (12)**

**Ruby**

**Sianna**

**Ethan**

**Riley**

**Aiden**

**Alicia**

**Sam**

**Luke**

**Chris**

**Margaret**

**James**

**Justin**

**Trivia is now going to be about this story, not the Hunger Games trilogy.**

**Find all of the other fandom references in this chapter. There' stone from Harry Potter, one from The Fault in our Stars and one from Divergent.**

**The next chapter will be a continuation of day 3**


	27. Day 3 part 2: Second Chance

**A/N: OMG guys! Thank you all SO much for 3,709views, 108 reviews, 13 follows and 9 favorites. Wanna make it more? Please? I asked nicely.**

**Anyway, sorry for the hiatus. I'm not going to give you any bullshit about how my life has been busy, or whatever, even though it has. But there was this one really bitchy user that kept bugging me. I'm not going to put the whole story here because it would take too long, but if you want the story, PM me. I've also been kinda upset lately, not because of that.**

**Don't forget to vote on the poll! I updated it a while ago in case you haven't seen it already. Check out Lulubell2495's story called 'Temporary,' cuz its really good. Oh, also, if you get the chance, check out my other story called 'Forbidden.' It's a modern day Clato. Don't read if you ship Glato (obviously)**

**Oh, and since this is a part 2 of a day, I think it calls for this:**

_**Previously**_

_**"Nice job, Princess... you should really burn things when you're done with them."**_

_**"The sponsor gift that could mean life or death still hasn't come for her."**_

**_"I see the forms of James's family before plunging into oblivion. My next greatest fear."_**

**_"We grab as much of our supplies as we can and run for it."_**

* * *

**Margaret POV**

From the time I was 8 years old to 11 years old, I would only study medicine. When I was 8, my parents told me that I was to train for the Hunger Games, but my innocent mind couldn't process myself actually taking a life. Today, I wouldn't give it a second thought. That's why, by the time I was 11, I was more knowledgable about medicine and the human body than most doctors in 10. That's why I knew what to do when Alicia was stabbed.

Alicia is lying on a makeshift bed that Sam put together. He managed to find some extremely useful supplies in one of the old buildings. Some if the letters fell off the sigh, so from what we could read, it said _WAT R UR O OTE._ Sam was able to find an old blanket, some mini bottles of soap and a few cans of food, along with some forks. He spread the blanket on the ground and folded it once, and Alicia laid down on it, face down. He put the rest if the supplies in the bag.

I rummaged through our bag until I came across a knife, two forks and a can of food. We devised a game of sorts where we shook the can and tried to guess what might be in it. I shook it between my and Sam's ears, and we heard something chunky sloshing around in liquid.

"Peaches in syrup," I say. We've had our fair share of these.

"Nah," Sam says. "I'm thinking green beans."

I use the knife to open the can, and find cubed fruit. Since I had the closer guess, I get a point. I use my finger nail to draw a line in the dirt.

"That's 3 for me, 1 for you," I inform him. We eat our fruit straight from the can, cherishing the sweet flavor. Our last can was some sort of pet food from the Capitol. "Alicia, you have to eat something."

She mumbles something about not being hungry, so I take the can with the sweet syrup over to her. She drains it slowly. "Can I have food now?"

I smile. I knew that would work. "Yeah, just a sec."

I go to our bag and shake cans until I come up with what I'm pretty sure is potatoes. I remember Alicia saying those were her favorites in the Capitol. I open them with the knife and bring them to her with a fork. I help her eat while Sam rinses out the empty cans from the creek and fills them with water from upstream. We've been drinking that lately and have been fine.

I'm really doubting whether we have sponsors, and I feel really guilty. Maybe if I did better in training, and gotten a higher score, we would have people who believed in us. I sigh, and throw the knife we've been using to cut cans in frustration.

_Thud_

I look across the stream, frustrated and see that the knife found it's mark in the eye of a turkey. That's it! I'm suddenly filled with joy. All I have to do is prove to the sponsors that I'm not useless.

I pick up some of the knives and have some target practice. I avoid throwing across the river anymore because it looks too dangerous to cross. I hit everything I try to hit. Holes where doorknobs used to be, targets I drew in the sand, even a Capitol camera I found in the corner of a building. I do the same with Alicia's arrows, making sure to retrieve all 22 knives first.

"I. Am. Not. Useless!" I scream. Each word gets it's own shot. Before I know it, Sam comes over to me, clutching a silver parachute in his hands. I'm so happy, I could cry. I grab the gift and sprint to Alicia's blanket.

"Leesh!" I call. "You got something! From sponsors!"

"You open it," she whispers.

With trembling fingers,mi remove the parachute and the plastic casing around the gift. Inside is a tub of cream, a bandage, 2 scraps of fabric, 2 bottles of iodine, a needle and thread and a note. I read the note aloud.

"A: I can't give you instructions on how to use the medicine. Your allies are smart enough to figure it out. May the odds be ever in your favor. From S. Who's S?" I ask her.

"Saggitaria," she says quietly. "My stylist."

I look at everything we have. I suddenly realize what has to be done in order to clean and fix her wound properly, and blush.

"Ah, Sam?" I say. "I have to, umm... I mean, you're going to have to... Alicia's shirt..." He thankfully understands what I mean and turns around. I stretch Alicia's shirt and tank top off of her and hand her the backpack to hold in front of her. I walk up next to Sam and get a can of water. I go back over to Alicia.

"Ok, this is going to hurt, but I promise it gets better," I tell her. She nods, weakly.

I carefully grip the knife and take it out of her back. She takes a sharp breath, but to her credit, she doesn't scream. I dip one of the fabric scraps in water and clean up the blood that had poured out of the wound. I use some of the iodine on the other piece of fabric to disinfect it. Alicia hisses in pain. I use the fabric to smear some cream onto the cut. She sighs deeply, in relief. I take is moment to stitch up the wound. It only needed 4 stitches. I wrap the bandage around her shoulder, covering the cut and give her her clothes back. She puts them on quickly, and I tell Sam that he can turn around.

"If this is as strong as I think it is, she should be ok by tomorrow." I say.

**Justin's POV**

"You should really burn things when you're done with them," I say.

"And you should really learn not to go through other people's shit," she retaliates.

"No, don't turn this around on me," I tell her. "Dint flip this. You used me."

"What the fuck would I use you for?!" She yells. "I have more supplies, food, weapons, and frankly, more skills than you, so what would I want from you other than safety in numbers?"

"Try to see this from my perspective," I say. "You come wandering into my campsite and I put a knife to your throat. In an effort to save yourself, you ask for an alliance and say that you think I'm cute. I didn't believe you, but I teamed up with you regardless. That night, you get a note congradulating you. See my dilemma?"

"I was trying to see if I could trust you," she counters. "This was something I came to an agreement with my mentor. If I were to make an alliance, she'd send me a note like this and I'd pretend to hide it. If you left it alone and didn't look for it, I could trust you. Clearly I can't." She picks up her bag and leaves.

I'm left speechless. Was it possible that she was just testing me? I don't have time to ponder this for more than 30 seconds before a loud male voice makes me jump.

"Well, well," he says. "What do we have here? Little miss deserter coming back to apologize." The raspy voice makes my blood boil and my teeth hurt.

Aiden.

**Ethan's POV**

"Well well, what do we have here?" Aiden asks. I look over to where he's looking. Our old alliance member, Ruby is standing by a tree looking caught off guard with tears in her eyes.

"Fuck off Aiden," She says. "Leave me the fuck alone."

Her voice waivers on the last word. I remember overhearing her saying that she had a fear of being alone. She was telling Jared in training, trying to convince him to stay with her. When she deserted, Jared told us all that she had to be in an alliance.

"Guys," I say. "Remember what Jared said about her."

Aiden smirks in understanding. "Where's the rest of your little alliance?" He asks. "Who do you guys think she's with? I'm thinking that bitch from 5."

"Nah," Sianna says. "Gotta be the guys from 7 and 11. Remember how we wanted them in the alliance?"

"Gosh," I say, sarcastically. "Maybe it's the guy from 12."

"What makes you say that?" Riley says, accusingly.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that he's trying to hide behind that tree."

Before anyone else notices, the District 12 boy (Jacob, maybe? Justin?) jumps out from behind his tree and throws a knife at Aiden's head. It skims his ear the sticks to the tree behind him. Aiden curses and puts his fingers up to his right ear. They come up bloody. Justin/Jacob throwas another knife, this time hitting Aiden in the shoulder.

"Fucking District 12 scum!" Aiden yells. Aiden grabs a spear and plunges it into Justin/Jacob's stomach. He grabs Riley's sword from her hands and makes a deep cut along Ruby's rib cage.

"Come on, guys," he says. "We're done here."

We gather up our stuff and walk back to camp. I fall into walking next to Sianna and grab her hand.

"It's getting pretty close to 7 days," I whisper. "Do you think we should leave?"

"Not yet," she says confidently. "I have a plan. You'll just have to trust me."

I lean in to tell her that I trust her, but Aiden turns around to face us. I think quickly and plant a kiss on her cheek.

"Let's go!" he calls. "We've got tributes to kill!"

We all start jogging and soon enough, we reach our old campsite. After we were attacked by jaguar mutts, all if us got out uninjured, but out campsite was pretty wrecked. Me and Sianna sit down on one log and Riley and Aiden each sit on a different one.

"Will one of you girls help me with my cuts?" Aiden asks irritated.

Sianna goes over to the bags we set down after hunting. She roots around for a first aid kit. We were only each able to get away with 2 bags and our weapons, but we still had Jared's bags and his bow and arrows. She finds a medium sized first aid kit and sits down next to Aiden. She hands him 3 painkillers and a water bottle, which he drinks quickly. I don't blame him. We haven't had anything to drink since the mutt attack, and we'd been running for hours.

Sianna starts with his ear cleaning it and taping gauze over the wound. She does the same with his shoulder. I pull some squirrels out of the bag and begin cooking them.

"Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?" Riley asks while eating. We shrug. After a few minutes a cannon goes off.

"Do you think that was for Justin or Ruby?" Sianna asks.

"Justin," Aiden says immediately. "It's gonna be a while before Ruby goes out."

I take a long sip of water. I really hope it's Ruby that died. She'll be more competition in the end. I guess we'll find out tonight.

**Ruby POV**

As soon as the Careers leave, Justin falls to the ground. As much as it pains my side where I was cut, I kneel down and catch him.

"Justin!" I say. "Justin, stay with me, please!"

"Ruby," he whispers. "I...I can't. Had to... Protect you... You can win."

"No! No I can't! I won't!" Tears are streaming down my face from a combination of my wound and the emotional pain.

"Stay with me," he says quietly. "Please... Until the end."

"Until the end," I repeat. I notice a tear fall down onto his cheek.

"You were more... More than just... A pretty face," he says. "You know that... Right?"

I nod, ready to break. "You were... My rock." He says.

"And you were mine," I whisper.

"How about that kiss?" He asks quietly. My eyes are blurry, but I lean down and place a soft kiss on his lips. In that moment, that's all that mattered. Just me and him.

Ruby and Justin.

"I love you Ruby."

"I... I love you too."

I lie down next to him and put my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. As much as I hate to admit it, he's not going to make it. He won't win. And if neither of us wins... who will.

I hear him take his final breath and the cannon goes off.

_Boom_

**Chris POV**

I killed that girl. When I sent the knife into Mckenzi's temple, I thought nothing of it. Hunger games. Kill or be killed. I notice that Luke hasn't been quite right ever since her death.

I walk over to James. "Should we kill him yet?"

"Not quite," he responds. "I wanna have some fun with him. Lets just see how this plays out

"Sounds good to me." The scene shifts again and I prepare myself for another dose of hell.

* * *

**_Eulogies_**

**_Justin- Oh man. Oh god. Ok, here goes. I seriously considered making you my Victor. I had this whole idea but then... This just worked. It was a bit of a spur of the moment thing, but I really think this was the best way out for you. Even though you were related to poopy-doopy Gale, you were one of my favorites and I'm gonna miss you._**

**_The Fallen_**

**_Jared Nilsen- District 1 male_**

**_Elizabeth Perry- District 3 female_**

**_Arthur Watts- District 3 male_**

**_McKenzi Phelps- District 6 female_**

**_Rose Klappe- District 7 female_**

**_Natalie Quimby- District 8 female_**

**_Jake Quimby- District 8 male_**

**_Grace Hadely- District 9 female_**

**_Ryan Polrain- District 9 male_**

**_Hayden Pierce- District 10 male_**

**_Melody Harrison- District 11 female_**

**_Peyton Johnson- District 12 female_**

**_Justin Hawthorne- District 12 male_**

**_Kill list_**

**_Jared: Natalie, Rose_**

**_Ruby: Melody_**

**_Aiden: Peyton, Grace, Justin_**

**_Alicia: Arthur, Ryan, Hayden_**

**_McKenzi: Elizabeth_**

**_Chris: McKenzi, Jake_**

**_Grace: Jared_**

**_Alliances_**

**_The Careers: _****_Ethan, Sianna, Aiden, Riley_**

**_The Babysitters Club:_****_ Sam, Alicia, Margaret_**

**_Team Douche:_****_ Luke, Chris, James_**

**_Ruby_**


	28. Day 4 Part 1: In The End

**A/N**:** I am so sorry.**

* * *

**Ruby POV**

After Justin died, I fell into a depression that mimicked my mother's after I was born. Even though she had a small child to care for, she was rarely around. When I was 3, my mother remarried, and the following year, she had Lexi. When I was 6, I learned to fend for not only myself, but my younger sister as well. By the time I was 8, I had stollen enough money to sign myself up for training. When Lexi turned 8, I did the same. At the age of 13, I met Jared. I tried to teach him how to throw knives and he tried to teach me how to shoot an arrow. It was a disaster.

_Flashback_

_"Jared, you're holding it wrong," I say. "Your finger goes down the handle, and it's a flick of the wrist, not the arm." He throws the knife and it sails past the target. I sigh in mock frustration._

_"I'm hopeless," he says. "How about we work on archery now?" I shudder, but oblige. __We walk over to the archery corner and I grab a bow._

_"You're holding it wrong," he says, and fixes my hands. I string an arrow and it hits a trainer in the leg. The trainer drops his clipboard and curses, hopping on one leg. My mouth drops open and Jared mouths _run.

_We sprint to the doors. Two trainers are guarding the doors and ask us where we're going. "Lunch," is my breathless response. They open the doors for us and we run out towards the lake. We ran across the sandy beach to the pier. We ran as far down the pier as we could, then sat down, legs dangling over the edge. I reach into my backpack and pull out a package of cookies. I open them and give two to Jared._

_His eyes lit up. "Where did you get these?" He asks. Even though we live in the richest District in Panem, cookies are hard to come by._

_"Being the daughter of a victor has it's perks," I say._

_We eat our cookies and drink out of our water bottles. I guess this could be considered lunch. After a while, Jared asks "Truth or Dare?"_

_I ponder this for maybe a second and say "Dare."_

_He smirks, and it's clear that that's what he was hoping to hear from me. "I dare you to jump in," he says._

_My eyes go wide for a moment, but this is Truth or Dare, and I have to do it. I unzip my hoodie and take it off, along with my leggings, socks and sneakers, revealing spandex and a tank top underneath, then I tie up my hair. I look at Jared to make sure he's serious. He smirks again and I roll my eyes. I take a few steps back, hold my nose and jump in. The water is only a few inches above my head, so I tread water. _

_"Truth or Dare?" I call up to him._

_"Dare!" He yells._

_"I dare you to jump in with me!" Without hesitation, he takes off his sweatshirt and jumps in. We're both laughing messes._

_"Truth or Dare?" He asks me._

_"Dare," I say again._

_"I dare you to go under for twenty seconds."_

_I hold my nose, take a deep breath and go under. When I resurface, I ask him "Truth or Dare?"_

_"Dare."_

_"Who do you like?"_

_"I said dare!"_

_"I dare you to tell me the truth. Who do you like?"_

_"You. Truth or Dare?"_

_"Truth."_

_"Who do you like?"_

_"You."_

_We're both smiling awkwardly until a Peacekeeper comes over. "What are you kids doing in the water?" He asks. "That's a District offense, I could have you written up and tried as adults. How would you like to be in the stocks?"_

_Jared pales and I swim forward a bit. "I would like I just fine," I say. "But I don't think my mother- the Victor of the 208th Hunger Games- would like to see her darling daughter being punished in the District square." _

_The Peacekeeper hesitates for a moment before saying "I'll let it go just this once, as long as you both get out of the water _right now."

_We quickly climb up on to the pier. As soon as he is out of earshot, Jared and I burst into hysterical laughter._

_"Ok," I say, breathless. "Ok, you stay here with our stuff. I'll go buy some towels."_

_We stayed at the pier all day and completely forgot about the trainer that I maimed. That was the day that we informally started dating._

Looking back on that memory made it hard to chose between Jared and Justin. Even if they were both dead. I couldn't live with having to make a decision like this. I reach into my bag and pull out a dagger, the same one I used to slit the throat of the girl from District 11. I hover it above my wrist and cut. I cut for every bad memory, every hard decision. I cut for everyone I've lost. Jared, Justin, my father. I cut to match the emotional pain inflicted by those who said that I wasn't pretty enough to be from District 1, or said that I was District 12 trash.

I would've been proud to be District 12 trash, if that's what Justin and my father were considered to be.

When the pain becomes unbearable, I position the knife above my heart and stab.

The last thing I register is the sound of a cannon.

**Sam POV**

_Boom_

I jolt awake, hearing the sound of a canon. Margaret wakes up too, Alicia has been keeping watch. My internal clock tells me that it's about 5:00 am.

"Who do you think that was for?" Margaret asks, slightly wide-eyed.

"I'm not sure," Alicia says. "Sam, who's left?"

"The girl from One, both from Two and Four, they guys from Six, Seven and Eleven and us."

"Wow," Alicia says. "Two deaths away from the final eight. And it's only day four. At this rate, it looks like the arena really will have to blow up."

Suddenly, the trumpets blare to life. "Attention, tributes, attention. We feel that you are a bit too... Spread out for our liking. Commencing in 3 hours, each of you will have a bag where the Cornucopia used to be marked with your District number and male or female. Now, this is not any ordinary feast. Each bag will contain food, water, your weapon of choice and something that your family has sent in from home. How much of everything depends on your training score. For example, a training score of six would earn you six packets of food, six water bottles, six of your weapons of choice and six tokens. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

"We have to go," I say.

Unfortunately, just as I said that, Alicia says "We aren't going."

Margaret looks up at Alicia with doe eyes. "Leesh," she says. "As much as I hate to disagree with you, we have to go. All we have left is 2 cans, half a bottle of iodine and a shit ton of weapons. It isn't enough!"

"I don't want any of us getting hurt," Alicia says quietly. "I've got too much of a target on my back, and Sam, you're not fast enough to get all of our bags and come out unscathed. No offense."

"None taken," I say.

"Then I'll go," Margaret says. "Everyone just thinks that I'm that wimpy little girl who cried at the reaping and got a zero. They'll underestimate me. Besides, since I got a one, my bag would be almost empty."

"I-I really don't know..." Alicia says quietly.

"Leesh, think about it," I tell her. "If we get both of our bags, we'll have six short swords, nine knives, fifteen water bottles, fifteen food packets and I'll have 6 tokens and you'll have 9. You can't turn that down."

She bites her lip and looks down, tears in her eyes. "You're sure you want to do this?" She asks Margaret.

She replies without hesitation. "Wholeheartedly."

**Luke POV**

"And as soon as the table comes out, you grab the bags and run back to where we were hiding," James just finished informing me of the plan. James was the King, meaning he had all the power. He decided on the plans and chose how to put them into action. It was clear to Chris and I that any disagreement would result in our deaths.

Chris was the Rook. He didn't have all the power, but he clearly had some. After all, he killed my other alliance members without batting an eye. Probably because James told him to. But again, Chris's power could be taken away in a second if that's what James wants.

Then there's me. I'm just a pawn. If McKenzi's training score had been any higher, she' die a pawn with me. A pawn. Minute. Useless. Disposable.

But I had a plan. James and Chris's plan was to have me run out at the very beginning of the feast and grab all of our bags, risking my life in the process. Because that's what pawns do. And if I die, so be it. My plan, however, was pretty different. I'm not going to win these games. To be honest, I'm surprised it got this far. Things aren't the way they were before. Everyone in 6 wouldn't even recognize me anymore, not that they knew me back then, but it'll all come back to me in the end. **(Disclaimer: Words are from 'In The End' by Linkin Park) **My plan is to go out to the feast, not as fast as I could. Once I get the backpacks, I'll be sure to "accidentally" get "caught" by any of the Careers or the girl from 5. Then I'll die and they will take James and Chris's supplies. I don't care if this will result in a Career possibly winning. I just want to be with McKenzi again.

Chris checks the watch that he got as a sponsor gift. "Alright guys, time to go," he says.

"What do you mean go?" I ask. I just remembered "There's no way out."

"Yeah there is," James said. "When we attacked you guys yesterday, we jammed a knife in the door frame."

My mouth drops open. There was a way out this whole time and I could never leave?

**Riley POV**

"Ok, let's get something straight," Aiden says. "When we get to the feast, I will be the one to kill Alicia. No ifs ands or buts. Does anyone else wish to claim someone? Speak now or forever hold your peace."

"I want Ruby," Sianna says.

"The guy from 11," says Ethan.

They all look at me. "I don't really care," I say. "I just want to kill someone."

"And the rest of the weaklings will be killed how we-mostly me-see fit," Aiden says. I roll my eyes at him as soon as he turns his back.

Out of nowhere, I hear four consecutive _ting_s. Four parachutes, each labeled _Ethan, Sianna, Aiden _or _Riley_ lands at our feet. I open mine to find a pen and a piece of paper. It seems that the others have received this as well. The paper reads:

_Congratulations Riley for making it into the final ten tributes in the 9th Quarter Quell. As you know by now, we are having a feast to celebrate. In everybody's bag will be their training score number of their weapon of choice. Say 'yes' to verify that your preferred weapon is the_

[ ] Spear

[ ] Bow and arrow

[X] Sword

[ ] Axe/Hatchet

[ ] Throwing Knives

[ ] Short Sword

[ ] Trident

_If this is not your preferred weapon, please place an X in the box with your chosen weapon. Thank you for your time. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor. _

"Yes," I say.

**Alicia POV**

While we were walking back to where the cornucopia used to be, I stumbled across a berry bush that we hadn't seen before. I pluck a berry off of the bush and am just about to pop it in my mouth when I remember that it could be poisonous. I cut it open with a knife and find the dark purple berry almost black on the inside. I remember it as Hgyn Berries from training. If you eat one, drink the juice, have it in your blood or even smell it too heavily, you'll die a slow, painful death.

"Nice try," I say aloud. Then I have an idea. "Sam, do you still have the container that my medicine came in? The parachute as well?"

He nods and hands it to me. I open it to find it empty, just as I hoped. They only sent me enough medicine for 3 applications since sponsor gifts are probably getting really expensive at this point in time. I fill the container with Hgyn Berries, which from the outside look remarkably like the grapes we were given in the Capitol. I retie the strings to the parachute onto the container. Then, I pull all 23 knives and 3 short swords out of the bag. I pull the collar of my shirt up to cover my nose and gesture for my allies to do the same. I then use a knife to mash a couple handfuls of berries to a pulpy juice. I coat every blade in the substance.

"The blades are for people," I say. "The arrows are for food."

* * *

**Eulogies**

**Ruby- Another one that I briefly considered having win. But then I realized that you had to be the one that ended your life, and the president wouldn't have let it happen if you were the Victor. I had this whole backstory set up in my head for you but I could never figure out how to put it into writing, so when I came up with the flashback/suicide, I had to get it written down. You're with Jared and Justin now, which is where you needed to be.**

**_The Fallen_**

**_Ruby Debsberg- District 1 female_**

**_Jared Nilsen- District 1 male_**

**_Elizabeth Perry- District 3 female_**

**_Arthur Watts- District 3 male_**

**_McKenzi Phelps- District 6 female_**

**_Rose Klappe- District 7 female_**

**_Natalie Quimby- District 8 female_**

**_Jake Quimby- District 8 male_**

**_Grace Hadely- District 9 female_**

**_Ryan Polrain- District 9 male_**

**_Hayden Pierce- District 10 male_**

**_Melody Harrison- District 11 female_**

**_Peyton Johnson- District 12 female_**

**_Justin Hawthorne- District 12 male_**

**_Kill list_**

**_Jared: Natalie, Rose_**

**_Ruby: Melody, herself_**

**_Aiden: Peyton, Grace, Justin_**

**_Alicia: Arthur, Ryan, Hayden_**

**_McKenzi: Elizabeth_**

**_Chris: McKenzi, Jake_**

**_Grace: Jared_**

**_Alliances_**

**_The Careers: _****_Ethan, Sianna, Aiden, Riley_**

**_The Babysitters Club:_****_ Sam, Alicia, Margaret_**

**_Chess Team: Luke, Chris, James_**

**Oh, and if you guys couldn't tell, all of my arena days have been song names. So, disclaimer: Man Down belongs to Rihanna, Oblivion belongs to Bastille, Second Chance belongs to Shinedown and In The End belongs to Linkin Park.**


	29. Day 4 Part 2: The Fatal Feast

**A/N: Hey guys. It's been a while... Sowwy. Anyway, we are quickly approaching the end of the Games, so remember to vote on who you want to be in the final 2. Also, I'm going to start doing a Spotlight Story every time I update. Today's Spotlight Story is _Temporary_ by Lulubell2495. _Temporary_ is a story about Prim taking responsibility for Katniss's bad relationship with their mother. Prim thinks that if she volunteers for the Hunger Games, it will bring her mother and sister closer together, so when Madge Undersee is called, Prim volunteers. Rated T because it's the Hunger Games. Also, check out my other two stories called _Forbidden_ and _Secrets Worth My Time._**

**James POV**

Me, Chris and Luke are squatting in a bunch of bushes, yards away from the Cornucopia. I gave all the backpacks to Chris, because Luke was going to run out to grab ours and I needed to be able to go in and fight at a moment's notice. Both of us had four knives tucked into our belts, but other than that, had nothing on us. After about 20 minutes of uncomfortable silent squatting, ten parachutes fell from an invisible hovercraft. The parachutes were labeled _D2M, D2F, D4M, D4F, D5M, D5F, D6M, D7M, D10F _and _D11M. _That means the prissy girl from 1 died earlier. She lasted longer than I thought she would. Both from 2 and 4, the girl from 5, Chris's and my bags were all large, Luke's and the male from 5's were mid-sized and the girl from 10's was incredibly small. I remember her having a 1 in training.

Just as I'm about to push Luke out of the bushes to grab our bags, two things happen within a second of each other. First, the girl from 10, the aforementioned one that got a 1- runs out from the ancient city. A split second later, the girl from 2 and the guy from 4 run out of the forest and start shooting weapons at her. The girl is throwing knives and the male, spears. 10 dodges all of them with remarkable finesse. 10 runs to her bag and slides it over her shoulder, that's how small it is. She then goes to the District 5 bags and straps the male's to her back. She opens the girl's and pulls out two throwing knives and throws them at the Careers. The first one sinks into the calf of the girl from 2 and the second one pierces the wrist of the male from 4. 10 adjusts the bags and runs off, back into the city.

While the Careers are recuperating, I take the opportunity to shove Luke towards the table. He sprints up to the table and grabs all 3 bags without being noticed by the Careers. I'm cheering inside. He won't even come out injured! Just as I'm sure he's about to come back to us, he yells at the top of his lungs "Hey ugly!" The Careers look up, furious. "Yeah, I'm talking to you! Are you so stupid that you didn't notice me running out? Come fight me! Be a man!"

"I think I will!" Yells the boy. He grabs his spear and runs to Luke. I get down on one knee and start throwing knives. I throw one and it misses the boy entirely because he was running. I throw my second one and it sails a few inches away from his head. My third knife manages to skim his ear and he howls, clearly in more pain that I thought necessary. Maybe I opened up an old wound? I take a deep breath and throw my last knife. Miss. I look at Chris, silently asking if he has any more. He shakes his head. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I look back to the feast in time to see the boy from 4 plunge his spear into Luke's stomach, before taking our bags. He runs off into the forest, probably to drop them with the other Careers and without thinking, I run after him. That was our supplies! Just as I'm catching up to the male, the girl from 2 lets a knife fly. I feel pain in my chest and wonder if this is how McKenzi felt.

_Boom  
Boom_

**Sianna POV**

_I killed the boy from 11._ Even though this is what I've been trained to do, I still can't believe I actually did it. I just sent the knife flying, no hesitation, and no regrets either. But I'm a Career, and with an 11 in training no less. I can't show any weakness.

Instead, I show my annoyance. Aiden had the wonderful idea-note my sarcasm- to take the supply bags of 3 other tributes. Normally, I'd be cool with robbing an entire alliance of their supplies, but their plan stuck us with 92 water bottles, 18 bags of trail mix, 8 packs of beef jerkey, 2 pizzas, 20 chicken wings, 20 pieces of celery, 2 containers of ranch dressing, 2 pots of lamb stew, 2 racks of ribs, 2 bowls of rice, a ton of grilled vegetables, 40 rolls, goat cheese and fruit. And that was just food! We can't forget about the extra 9 hatchets and 36 throwing knives. And all of the useless shit from Districts 6, 7 and 11. What are we going to do with pictures? Well, in all fairness, they made great kindling for our fire.

We made our camp only yards away from where the feast took place, simply because we couldn't carry all of the supplies at once. We're extremely exposed, and, honestly, I'm terrified that we'll be found. I mean, we have a lot of weapons, but at this point, all of the tributes left are just as strong as us. It's not fair! We worked our whole lives for this, only to be upstaged by a fifteen year old from 5 and her 14 year old sidekick who got a 1 for fuck's sake.

I have to admit, I was surprised that the girl from 10 could throw with such accuracy. She hit me in the leg and it hurts badly. It wasn't just Why-Look-At-That-I've-Been-Stabbed-Pain. The skin around the cut had turned a sickening purple, and it was hot to the touch. I tried pouring some water over it, but it made me hiss in pain. I dropped iodine over it and the pain was enough to make me vomit.

The rest of my alliance regarded me as if I was a bit odd, and who could blame them? Aiden had a wound from the same girl and he wasn't having any of the same side affects as me. When he was back to throwing spears with his injured hand, I was curled in fetal position in a sleeping bag, pitifully gnawing a roll. Ethan is sitting cross-legged by my head, stroking my hair. I look up at him with wide eyes.

"Water?" I whisper. Ethan hurries to a bag to get me a water bottle. I make a split second decision in his absence. Whatever is different about this injury makes it unbearable to hold on anymore. So I close my eyes and just let go.

**Alicia POV**

As soon as the male from 6-Luke, I think- ran out, I was thankful for him saving Margaret's life. If it wasn't for him, one of the Careers could have killed Margaret and taken our supplies. We really need this food.

After Margaret came back to the ancient city, Sam thought it would be a good idea to go into the forest. That's where we know the Careers were, so there's a better chance of us being able to take them out from there. I'm fairly certain that Margaret could kill the girl from District 2, I could kill her district partner and the girl from 7 and Sam or I could kill the boys from 6, 7 and 11 if we really wanted to. Aiden is the real problem.

After we've been hiking in the forest for a while, we come to a clearing and decide to make camp there. Sam spreads out a blanket for us to sit on. The clearing was lacking in grass, unlike the rest of the forest. We emptied out all of our supplies so we could organize it. We wrapped our 10 poisonous knives in one of my socks-we didn't want to risk contamination. We were one poison knife short because one of them lied in the leg of the girl from 2. We put our 11 old knives along with the 9 knives we got at the feast and our 9 short swords in the same bag with my arrows and the forks that Sam found. We propped the bow against this bag.

Our next bag was for our water bottles. We had two from the bloodbath and got 16 more at the feast, so we put the water bottles in a bag of their own. It occurs to me that the Gamemakers were really generous with food, water and weapons. They probably don't want anyone dying from the elements and this was their way of ensuring more fights. While we're putting together our food bags, I notice something.

"Guys, the food isn't just based on quantity," I say. "It's quality as well. Margaret, you only got a 1 and you got a stale roll in your bag for food. Sam, you got a six in training and you got six packs of popcorn. I got a nine and I got nine bags of trail mix. Some of them even have chocolate in them."

"The highest scores get the best food," Margaret says, understanding.

"You gotta winder how the Careers made out," Sam says, wistfully. "Sianna and Aiden got elevens." My mouth waters just thinking about warm Capitol food that we were eating not even a week ago.

"Can you imagine if my district partner was still alive?" Margaret asks. She wasn't at all bothered by the fact that I killed him. I wasn't either. Kill or be killed. "He got a _12._"

I go back to sorting and try not to think about ribs. Our food bag contains six packs of popcorn, nine bags of trail mix, a few cans of food, the poison berries and a squirrel I shot earlier. We were so hungry after talking about Capitol food that we split Margaret's roll.

All that was left was our tokens and the soaps that Sam found in one of the buildings. We decided that they would share a bag, since we only had one more. When we looked through our tokens, we discovered that they were sent directly from our families.

Margaret was sent a small picture of a woman in her twenties with Margaret's red hair and green eyes. She was smiling, but there was something in her eyes that wasn't quite right. On the back of the picture, someone had written _Stay Strong._ I asked her who it was and she said it was her great aunt Annie.

Sam also had a small picture of a girl. She had blonde hair, hazel eyes and looked about my age, so I guessed her to be his girlfriend. His next token was a small red ball that was really squishy. I was really curious about this, but I didn't ask. His third token was a picture of his family; his parents, him and 2 sisters. His fourth token was a watch, and his fifth was a small, square piece of white cloth. His last gift was a small plastic jar filled with baby teeth.

I took a deep breath and started going through my things. The first was yet another photograph of my four best friends Holly, Emma, Rosie and Cecelia. They were making weird faces at the camera and I couldn't help but giggle. Since when do I giggle? My next token was the heart shaped locket that my mom always wore. It was a present from my dad from when he got a promotion at work. My third token was my favorite. A piece of pink construction paper folded in half. On the front, written in orange was _Come Home Soon Sissy _and on the inside was _Lov, Ashley._ It made me cry, just a little. My fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh tokens were the four stuffed animals that I've been sleeping with since I was a toddler. They were a dog named Woof, a cat named Meow, a duck named Quack and a mouse called Squeak. Give me a break, I was 2. My next token was another family photo, my parents, by brother and my baby sister. It was taken a week after Ashley was born. My last token was a pacifier on a string. I'm guessing it was mine. I put it around my neck and tuck the pacifier under my shirt.

The anthem plays and we sit on the blanket to watch. I heard four total cannons today. I know the boy from 6 died, but I'm not sure who else. I know Margaret hit Sianna in the leg with a poisoned knife and Aiden in the wrist with a normal one. Maybe Sianna died? The first face that appears is the girl from 1. This makes me really happy because she was pretty powerful. I'm also elated at Sianna's face. I'm upset when Luke's face is next. He died and saved Margaret. I feel better when James's face comes up next. He was the biggest competition outside of the Careers.

**_Eulogies_**

**_Sianna- _Even though you were a Capitol spy that was using Ethan (everyone seems to forget about that) I really loved your character. You had a lot of personality and attitude, and even though you were probably one of the most bloodthirsty ones in the arena, you were still compassionate. _  
_**

**_Luke- _Ah, I love indirect suicide. You knew you were going to die, so you went out in style and basically guaranteed that the person who killed your girlfriend doesn't win. I don't care what anyone else says: You were freaking boss.**

**_James- _You see, what had happened was... At the beginning, I tried to like you. I gave you a little sister, I made you like Melody. I wanted you to have alliances, and I realized that this was the only way out for you. Rest in Peace. *Three Finger Salute* **

**P.S. You were based on Thresh. I can't believe you guys missed that.**

**_The Fallen_**

**_Ruby Debsberg- District 1 female_**

**_Jared Nilsen- District 1 male_**

**_Sianna Connard- District 2 female_**

**_Elizabeth Perry- District 3 female_**

**_Arthur Watts- District 3 male_**

**_McKenzi Phelps- District 6 female_**

**_Luke Franklin- District 6 male_**

**_Rose Klappe- District 7 female_**

**_Natalie Quimby- District 8 female_**

**_Jake Quimby- District 8 male_**

**_Grace Hadely- District 9 female_**

**_Ryan Polrain- District 9 male_**

**_Hayden Pierce- District 10 male_**

**_Melody Harrison- District 11 female_**

**_James Enright- District 11 male_**

**_Peyton Johnson- District 12 female_**

**_Justin Hawthorne- District 12 male_**

**_Kill list_**

**_Jared: Natalie, Rose_**

**_Ruby: Melody, herself_**

**_Sianna: James_**

**_Aiden: Peyton, Grace, Justin, Luke_**

**_Alicia: Arthur, Ryan, Hayden_**

**_McKenzi: Elizabeth_**

**_Chris: McKenzi, Jake_**

**_Grace: Jared_**

**_Margaret: Sianna_**

**_Alliances_**

**_The Careers: _****_Ethan, Aiden, Riley_**

**_The Babysitters Club:_****_ Sam, Alicia, Margaret_**

**_Chris_**

**Disclaimer: The Fatal Feast belongs to Municipal Waste**


	30. Final 7 Interviews

**A/N: Here, have some interviews. Sorry that this is kind of a short chapter, but I hope this will hold you over until I have the next chapter up. I'm just about done with Day 5 Part 1 because I kind of had a brain fart and started writing that before this. So yeah, remember to vote on the poll, it reall helps me decide who I should kill and when.**

**Today's Spotlight Story is ****_The Choice is Yours - 127th Hunger Games _****by teampeeta1227. This story is similar to mine in that it is a Hunger Games fanfic (obviously) and it is completely origional characters created by the author. It is very detailed, well written and never rushed. Rated T because it's the Hunger Games. **

* * *

**Severa POV**

**Ethan**

Ethan's mother, father, brother Colin and two friends Nick and Greg are sitting on the couch in Ethan's family's living room. His parents look proud, his brother is nervous and his friends indifferent. I found this strange because Ethan is from a Career district. I would have expected everyone to be a bit more excited for Ethan's prosperity.

"So, Mr. and Mrs. Peterson, how are you feeling about Ethan's chances for the crown?" I ask.

"I think he has much better chances now that that silly girl is out of his life," his father says.

"He did always say that he'd die for her," his mother contributes.

"Interesting," I say, unsure. I didn't realize Ethan's parents didn't like Sianna. Maybe they knew? "Colin, you know your brother better than anyone else. What do you think he did to get himself a 10 in training?"

"Well, he's good with spears," Colin says with a smile. "Maybe something with those?"

"And who do you think is Ethan's biggest competition?" I ask his friends.

"Aiden," Greg says.

"Alicia," Nick says.

"Well, thank you for your time, we'll see you for the Victory tour, Victor or not."

* * *

**Aiden**

Aiden's mother, sister Megan and girlfriend Brittany are sitting around a table in Aiden's kitchen. They all look proud and confident.

"Mrs. Ross, you seem pretty confident in Aiden's return. What do you think is the biggest obstacle that he'll face in the arena in the next three days?"

"Honestly, I don't think anyone's stronger than my son at this point," she says elusively. "Although, I think his alliance is weighing him down slightly. If I were him, I'd kill Ethan and leave with Riley. He'd stand a better chance."

"Don't talk about him and Riley!" Brittany shrieks. "I just know something's going on there. I'll have to talk to him if he comes home. _When _he comes home. He promised he'd win." She giggles. "For _us._"

"That's sweet," I say. "Were you expecting Aiden to get an 11 in his private session with the Gamemakers?"

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting an 11, but I knew he would do well," Megan says. "I was thinking maybe a 9."

"And how do you think he got the 11?"

"Spears," Megan says.

"Speed," Brittany says.

"Agility," his mother says.

"All three?" I ask. They nod.

"Well, thank you for your time, we'll see you for the Victory tour, Victor or not."

* * *

**Riley**

Riley's father, younger sister, Emily, and two friends Katie and Tamera are sitting in Riley's dad's living room. Mr. Frise is in an armchair and the girls are sitting on the carpeted floor. Emily is too young to completely understand what is going on, being only six years old, according to my pamphlet.

"Mr. Frise," I begin. "Your daughter is often overlooked having Aiden as her district partner. Do you think this is justified?"

"Of course I don't think it's justified," he says. "Understandable, maybe, but not justified. Riley would be a perfectly capable tribute if Aiden had just let her prove it."

"Interesting," I say. "Tamera, Katie, Riley is only 16, do you know why she volunteered?"

"For district glory," Katie says. "That's why I'm volunteering next year."

"I'm volunteering after her," Tamera adds.

"Where is my sister?" Emily asks. "Will she be home soon?"

"We aren't sure, Emily," I say. "Well, thank you for your time, we'll see you for the Victory tour, Victor or not."

* * *

**Sam**

Sam's parents and two sisters Jennifer and Melissa are sitting at a counter in Sam's kitchen. They all look pretty unsure about the interview. My guess is that they didn't think that Sam would last this long, which surprises me. I'd expect more from family.

"Mr. and Mrs. Collins, what do you think about Sam's allies, Margaret and Alicia?" I ask.

"I think Alicia is a great ally to have under these circumstances," his mother says. "If she wasn't his district partner, I'd be afraid of him waking up with a knife in his back."

"Margaret, however," his dad says. "She's not my favorite. She's won Alicia's affection and I feel as though that could really hurt his chances at winning."

"So, do you think that if he were to kill Margaret, he'd have a better chance at Victory?" I ask.

"Oh, absolutely," Jennifer says. "Even if she wasn't a threat-which she isn't- when there's only 6 other tributes left, eliminating one just brings you that much closer to victory."

"Besides," Melissa says. "I really don't think that Sam's death is going to be by the hands of a 14 year old."

"A lot of Capitol citizens are thinking that as well," I assure her. "Well, thank you for your time, we'll see you for the Victory tour, Victor or not."

* * *

**Alicia**

Alicia's parents, brother Adam, sister Ashley and friends Holly and Emma are sitting in Alicia and Ashley's room. Adam, Ashley and their parents are sitting on the bed and Holly and Emma are sitting on the floor by the bed. The parents look proud, Adam looks angry, Ashley and Emma look ready to cry and Holly is softly bouncing on her knees, looking hyper.

"Alicia is thought to have the third highest odds of victory," I tell them. "Behind Aiden and Ethan and in front of Riley, Chris, Sam and Margaret, respectfully. Were you surprised that she teamed up with the girl who is considered to be the weakest tribute left?"

"Not at all," her mother says.

"From the minute I watched the District 10 reaping, Margaret reminded me of Ashley," Her father adds.

"I can't say that I was all that surprised either," Adam says.

"Aiden, from District 4 had showed a strong dislike for Alicia," I say. "What do you think will come out of that?"

Holly leans up towards the bed and scoops up Ashley. She sits her in her lap and covers her ears. "I think that Aiden can go fuck himself," she says. She removes her hands.

"I wouldn't like him even if he wasn't out to kill Alicia," Emma says. "I wouldn't be rooting for him if it came down to him and a mutt in the final two. I'd rather see the mutt on the Victory Tour."

"Ashley, do you have anything you want to say?" I ask, changing the topic.

"When is my sissy coming home?" She asks. "She hasn't told me a story in a long time."

"Well, thank you for your time, we'll see you for the Victory tour, Victor or not."

* * *

**Chris**

Chris's family refused to be interviewed, leaving only his girlfriend, Willow to talk to.

"If I wanted to talk about my son, I'd have had the good one volunteer," his dad said.

"So Willow," I begin. "What is your relationship to this year's tribute?"

"Well," she begins, carefully. "I'm Chris's girlfriend, and Rose is my sister. Um, _was _my sister."

"I'm sorry for your loss," I say, truthfully. "Do you have faith in Chris's return."

"I do," she says. "Now that his allies are gone, I really think that he could easily... beat the remaining tributes. Except maybe Aiden. Aiden is the only one left I'm worrying about.

"Do you think if he comes home, he'll be different?"

"In a way, yes. I mean, I don't think I'd ever be able to look at him the same way again, considering he's taken lives, but it won't change the way I feel about him. I'll still love him, because I still do. Nothing in the world can change that."

"How touching," I say. "Well, thank you for your time, we'll see you for the Victory tour, Victor or not."

* * *

**Margaret**

I was expecting a lot from Margaret's family, seeing as though they were direct decendants of Annie Cresta. Her family lived in a mansion which was a breath of fresh air, because I hadn't been in a decent home since Riley's. Her parents sat on a loveseat, her father's arm draped casually over the back of the small couch. She had two friends Isabel and Cassie over as well, each of them claiming a leather recliner. Lastly was the 12 year old girl Hannah that Margaret volunteered for, sitting cross legged on the white shag carpet. There was soft music playing in the backround. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding when I sank into one of the leather armchairs.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cresta," I say. "Were you surprised at your daughter's decision to volunteer?"

"Well, she has always had a soft spot for people that had less than she did," her mother says.

"She was always feeding and clothing the poor and homeless, but I had no idea that she'd volunteer for a 12 year old," says Mr. Cresta.

"Even if it was unexpected, I'm glad she did it," Hannah says. "I wouldn't have lasted long in the arena."

'Isabel, Cassie, what was Margaret like outside of the arena?" I ask.

"Margaret has always been a very kind person," Isabel says. "She always used to help me with my homework."

"Margaret would always come over and help me babysit my younger siblings," Cassie says. "I have six of them so it would be really hard to do it on my own. All of them have taken to calling her 'Mary.'"

"That's sweet," I say. "Well, we'll see you for the Victory Tour, Victor or not."

* * *

**So, yeah, like I said, the next chapter should be up... by Thursday, maybe? Possibly Friday. Idk, it'll be up by the end of the week. And I got no reviews on my last chapter and that made me sad. D': **

**Bringing back the old catchphrase: Follow, favorite and review!**


	31. Day 5 Part 1: Battlefield

**A/N: Hiyas! Today's Spotlight Story is _Primrose _by Allythecole. _Primrose _is the story of Prim's Hunger Games. On reaping day, Katniss is being talked to by Peacekeepers and is unable to attend the reaping. As we know, Prim's name is called, but this time, Katniss is not able to volunteer for her. Since Gale wants Prim to return home to Katniss, he volunteers in Peeta's place. This is the story of Gale and Prim's Hunger Games**

**I put up a new poll for you to vote on who you want to win the Games! **

**Alicia POV (Yes, I know, two chapters in a row, but trust me.)**

It was my idea to sleep with poison knives in our belts, and I have never been happier when any of my other ideas have been executed. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't rooting for my district partner's death, I was just happy that I wasn't the one that killed him.

It was Sam's turn to take watch. I've always been a light sleeper, so I wasn't surprised that I woke up to some rustling. I roll over to face the source of the noise, but keep my eyes pretty much shut, so I looked like I was still sleeping. I reached down to my belt and gripped my knife handle, just in case the Careers found us. I see Sam kneeling over Margaret, knife in hand.

"Please," Margaret says. "Please, I'll do anything." Her hand travels slowly down to her own knife.

"Not a chance," Sam says. He raises his knife and brings it down toward Margaret's throat.

"OmigodAlicia'sawake!" She says quickly. I could tell she didn't know I was awake, she was just using me as a distraction.

Sam's head whips in my direction and I sit up quickly and-in an amazing, never to be repeated show of skill-did a forward roll in their direction and landed inches away from Sam's face, knife pointed directly at his chest. Before I have time to act on it, Margaret throws her knife and it lands in the middle of Sam's forehead. I can tell it was one of the poisoned ones because he falls down at once.

_Boom_

"Alicia," Margaret says. "I understand if you want to break up the alliance now. I mean, I just killed your district partner and-"

"Are you ok?" I ask. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," She says, confused. "You're not mad?"

"Hey, I killed your district partner, and you weren't mad," I remind her.

"I guess, but-"

"No buts, I would have done the same thing. Go back to bed, I'll take watch."

"Thanks, Leesh."

While she's sleeping, I move Sam's body away from our camp and pile his tokens on top of him. Then I remove his jacket, belt and knife from his body. We might need those. The claw comes down and I wake Margaret.

"Come on," I say. "Eat some breakfast. We're going hunting."

"Leesh," She whines. "We have more than enough food."

"Did I mention food?" I ask. "I just said we're going hunting. Come on, here's some trail mix. Eat, you'll need energy."

**Ethan POV**

_Boom_

The cannon reminds me of Sianna. Sianna is dead. Gone. I've never been more upset. I have to avenge her death. I have to kill a 14-year-old girl. She's not an innocent child. She is a murderer. I am not a murderer. I will be a murderer by the end of the week. I will win for Sianna.

"I am going to kill the girl from District 10," I announce. "Neither of you try to."

"I just want Alicia," Aiden says. He cracks his knuckles. If Sianna were here, she'd roll her eyes.

"I don't care anymore," Riley says. She doesn't think she can win anymore. Sianna was going to help her, she told me. Sianna was going to kill Aiden so the three of us stood a fighting chance. When we got to the final three, I was going to kill Riley and myself. Sianna would win. Sianna is dead. I will win for Sianna.

I vow to kill Aiden. If he hadn't told Sianna to throw knives at the girl, she would still be alive. With Aiden gone, it will be easier for me to win. After that, I will kill Riley. Perhaps I will kill Riley first. Yes, I will kill her in her sleep and blame it on the girl from 5. Aiden wouldn't doubt that. I'll say that I didn't kill her because he wanted to initially. I will tell him that I tried to wake him, but he simply wanted to sleep. Then, I will kill him while he is sleeping. Maybe it would be better if I killed them both at once. No, I would like to have fun. I want Aiden to know what it's like to lose someone you hold dear to yourself.

I think I'll save Riley for later. Yes, if she would like to take out a tribute or two for me, who am I to stop her? I will, however dispose of Aiden directly after. As much as I'd like to see him suffer, I only have 2 more days to either get out or be obliterated.

I start sharpening my spear heads. Only the best can take the lives of those so worthy of my time. I'm fairly certain that the cannon earlier was for either Chris or Sam. Despite what my mentor told me, I've found it quite useful to learn the names of my competitors. That leaves me, Riley, Aiden, Alicia, Margaret and either Sam or Chris. If it is Sam that is still alive, Aiden will kill him. If it is Chris, Riley or Alicia will. Aiden will kill Alicia, and I, Margaret, leaving just us three Careers. When the time comes, I'm certain that I can kill both tributes that District 4 has spawned.

I am still sharpening spear heads when Riley announces that she is going hunting. She tucks three swords in her belt, grabs a backpack and a bow and starts to walk away.

"Why are you bringing a bow?" I ask her. Better make it seem like I care.

"Do _you _want me to come back with a bloody mess that used to be a squirrel?" She asks, sarcastically. "Because that's what would happen if I used my sword."

"Alright," Aiden says. "Why do you have a backpack?"

"In case I get lost," she says. "I'm not going to pretend that I know what's in this arena."

"But if you're bringing a bow because it makes for easier hunting," I say carefully. "Why are you bringing your swords?"

"Goddammit Ethan," she says, annoyed. "What if I run into another tribute?"

"You use the bow," I say slowly, like _duh._

"Well what if I run out of arrows?" She practically screams. "What then?"

Before I have time to respond, she storms out into the forest.

"Jesus," Aiden says. "Time of the month?"

I snort laugh, momentarily forgetting my dislike for Aiden.

"She better get back soon," he says. "I'm starved."

The next thing I see would probably make Aiden pee himself with excitement. Coming towards us, bow at the ready was the girl from District 5. And Margaret.

**Chris POV**

I'm on my own, which is exactly what I wanted to begin with. I really didn't want to be in an alliance with James, but I was terrified that he'd kill me if I said no. Little did I know that I'd be the one doing all of his dirty work. He always seemed to think that he was the stronger one in the alliance, but I had two kills, which was two more kills than he had.

When the Careers killed my allies, I decided to go to the forest section of the arena. It was the most like home, so may be able to find some berries or animals to eat or a stream to drink from. After hiking for a good 10 hours after the feast, I came across the perfect place to make camp. It was a clearing, a circle with about a 10 foot radius. The clearing was surrounded by pines willows, which made me think of my girlfriend. The trees gave camouflage to the area, but room to make camp and, occasionally, pace._  
_

I spread out my meager supplies in the center of the circle. The Careers took whatever was in our bags at the feast. Sleeping bag in the very center, my jacket folded by the head as a pillow. The forest was warm enough without my jacket. I tucked my four throwing knives in my belt, along with the sword I stole from Luke. I leave the rest of my supplies in my bag. I have a half full water bottle, three pieces of dried beef, a packet of dried fruit and some iodine.

Since my water bottle is half empty, I make it my mission to find a water source today. In the section of the arena that held our fears, it was easy enough to get water any time we needed it because my biggest fear was drowning. Now, it was harder to find water because the Gamemakers weren't just giving it to me. I don't want to go back to that section of the arena, especially alone, since I'd have no breaks from the water. I can picture it now: I'd be in that section and as soon as they thought I wasn't exciting enough, they'd either send mutts after me or just let me quietly drown.

I sigh and quietly pack up my supplies. I put my sleeping bag, jacket and food in my backpack, and leave the weapons in my belt. Then, I string the loop in the cap of my water bottle in my belt. I put the small bottle of iodine in my back pocket. While I'm walking, I see some footprints in the dirt and, against my better judgement, decide to follow them. 2 pairs of feet. 2 tributes. Both pairs of feet were smaller than mine, one only slightly and one significantly. I decide that one of the sets of feet must belong to Margaret from 10. She's the smallest tribute left in the games. So, by my logic, unless one of the Careers-the girl, Riley, most likely, judging by the size of the feet- is holding her hostage, the other pair of feet belong to the girl from 5, and her district partner has died.

Kids at school always used to make fun of me. They would call me "Nerd" and "Geek," but I'm really not all that smart, I just have common sense. I don't have the biggest feet, so unless the remaining guys all have tiny feet and the remaining girls have big feet, two girls walked by. There's only three girls left, one of which is a Career, two of which are in an alliance. The girls from 5 and 10 are in an alliance with the boy from 5, but there was a cannon earlier, so that could be why there are only 2 pairs of footprints. Unless a Career died and Alicia is carrying her district partner piggy-back, which I highly doubt.

I decide to follow the footprints, hoping that they will lead me to a water source. I know that I'm getting myself into trouble when the trees start thinning out, but I keep walking. I'm lucky I was as alert as I am, because had I not been, I would have walked on on a full-fledged battle. Alicia is sword-fighting with the male from 4-Aiden, both of them yelling at eachother in words I can't quite hear. They are both using epic looking swords, Aiden's gold and Alicia's silver. It's clear that neither of them prefers the sword as their weapon, but they are both trying hard to gain the upper hand. I remember watching Alicia throw knives and shoot arrows, and I know that Aiden prefers the spear. While the sword fight is intensely interesting to watch, I pry my eyes away to watch Ethan and Margaret. Margaret is throwing knives rapid-fire at Ethan, which would probably be more effective if he didn't have a shield.

After watching the fight for a while, I have the common sense to leave. I follow the girls' footprints in the opposite direction, hoping that they camped out by a stream. On the way, I realize that the only two tributes missing from that scene were Sam and Riley. They were both in the two alliances participating in the battle. That means that one of them died, and the other deserted.

**_Eulogies_**

**_Sam: _From the very beginning, I knew this was how I wanted you to die. Even when you found out Margaret was trained, you were skeptical of her, so I feel like this was really the only way to prove that she had it in her. Rest in pieces.**

**_The Fallen_**

**_Ruby Debsberg- District 1 female_**

**_Jared Nilsen- District 1 male_**

**_Sianna Connard- District 2 female_**

**_Elizabeth Perry- District 3 female_**

**_Arthur Watts- District 3 male_**

**_Sam Collins- District 5 male_**

**_McKenzi Phelps- District 6 female_**

**_Luke Franklin- District 6 male_**

**_Rose Klappe- District 7 female_**

**_Natalie Quimby- District 8 female_**

**_Jake Quimby- District 8 male_**

**_Grace Hadely- District 9 female_**

**_Ryan Polrain- District 9 male_**

**_Hayden Pierce- District 10 male_**

**_Melody Harrison- District 11 female_**

**_James Enright- District 11 male_**

**_Peyton Johnson- District 12 female_**

**_Justin Hawthorne- District 12 male_**

**_Kill list_**

**_Jared: Natalie, Rose_**

**_Ruby: Melody, herself_**

**_Sianna: James_**

**_Aiden: Peyton, Grace, Justin, Luke_**

**_Alicia: Arthur, Ryan, Hayden_**

**_McKenzi: Elizabeth_**

**_Chris: McKenzi, Jake_**

**_Grace: Jared_**

**_Margaret: Sianna, Sam_**

**_Alliances_**

**_The Careers: _****_Ethan, Aiden_**

**_The Babysitters Club:_****_ Alicia, Margaret_**

**_Chris_**

**_Riley_**

**Go vote on my poll, it helps me decide who I'm going to kill when.**

**Disclaimer: Battlefield belongs to Jordin Sparks**


	32. Day 5 Part 2: Unnatural Selection

**A/N: Very eventful chapter for you guys. Don't blink; you might miss something. Today's Spotlight Story is _Fall Into The River_ by Oisin55. _Fall Into The River_ is about one of the least talked about victors that we are aware exists: Cecelia. _Fall Into The River _follows Cecelia Rheys before, during and after her time in the arena. Don't forget to go vote on the poll for your two favorite tributes. It really helps me decide who is going to die soon. Plus, we're about 4 chapters away from the end of the games. (That's code for 1-3 weeks. Just FYI.) But, there will be a few chapters after the end of the games for interviews, the Victory Tour and some statistics and thank yous.**

**Ok, so I know this is short, but it's important and... Yeah. Don't underestimate it.**

**Margaret POV**

When Alicia suggests going tribute hunting, I about burst with excitement. Tribute hunting is an activity that is almost exclusively for Careers, and here we are, 2 young girls from outer districts, hunting Careers. Oh, and that guy from 7 that got a 9. Sometimes, I forget that Alicia is only 15. She's taken on the roll of Big Sister I Never Had, and it's making her seem more like 17 or 18. Not that I'm complaining.

Almost immediately after Alicia suggests hunting-in fact, it's almost comical how quickly this happens-two silver parachutes fall from the sky. And they're not exactly small, either. One is labeled with a 5, and the other with a 10. I open mine and find a large backpack, a vile of green liquid and a note.

_The vial is poison._ That is all the note said. Curious, I unzip the pack and almost die. Small, large, long, short, silver, gold, iron, plain, jeweled, serrated and smooth, all for me. All different throwing knives. I dump the entire contents of the pack out and Alicia's eyes widen in shock- she hasn't opened her gift yet. The look on her face reminds me that since we're on day 5 of 7, the cost of this large bag of weapons must have been astronomical. I stare at the knives before sorting and counting them. 200. Sponsors sent me... 200 knives. I tell Alicia the number and she flips out.

"Oh my God," she says. "Can I... Can I have one?" She seems almost embarrassed, but I nod. After looking for a few seconds, she selects a knife that is serrated on one edge and smooth and sharp on the other. The blade itself is silver and the handle is black, inlaid with rubies, sapphires and emeralds. When she grips it, I notice that the jewels weren't just for decoration, they were a mold for easier handling. I take my 12 favorites and put them in my belt, strapping the rest to my body, with the bag on my gut instead of my back for easier access in a fight.

"Umm, Alicia?" I ask.

"Hmm," she says absently, admiring her knife.

"You got a gift as well, and, frankly, yours is bigger than mine."

She snaps back into reality and opens her gift. Inside are five swords, a gold, silver, bronze, platinum and iron. They all had jeweled handles and a three foot blade. She slides the platinum, gold, bronze and iron swords in her belt and holds the silver in her hand.

"Ready Margaret?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Hey, I think this goes without saying," she starts. "But I have dibs on Aiden."

"That's cool," I respond. "I was hoping to take out both from 2 anyway."

* * *

**Aiden POV**

I didn't realize how few sponsor gifts we had gotten until two landed in front of Ethan and I. I get swords and Ethan gets shields. Weird, I don't prefer swords. I'm not inept with them, but I prefer a spear. I get five swords in all, a platinum one, a gold one, a silver one, a bronze one and an iron one. I slide them all into my belt except the gold. I decide that that one's my favorite. Ethan's parachute has a beautiful shield. It's perfectly circular, about 3 feet across, made of what appears to be pure silver. There is the symbol of District 2 printed on the front.

As I'm sharpening my spear heads, I wonder about why this Quell idea was formed. I mean, one week is not a long time. Sometimes, it takes longer than that for someone to dehydrate to death. Maybe it's so there's more action. I remember being annoyed when the games would last for weeks and there was such a long stretch of time between kills. It made me antsy, so I can't imagine how the Capitol audience would feel.

While I'm contemplating this, I hear Ethan say "Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

"What, Riley back?" I ask without looking up. Next thing I know, there's a redhead six inches away from my face, holding a silver sword not too different from the one in my belt. In fact, I don't see any difference.

"Do I _look_ like your district partner?" She asks with a sneer.

"District 5," I spit in distaste. "What made you decide to show up." I rise to my feet and discover for the first time that I'm nearly a foot taller than her. I make a point of looking down at her.

"Well, all of our lives are going to end eventually," she says. "I'd just love to be the one that ends yours."

"Oooh, Shorty's got some balls," I say. "Pretty sword."

"And yourself," She replies. "Wanna see me use it?"

"More than anything."

We launch into a full scale battle. A turn of my head tells me that Ethan is fighting-or being fought by- the girl from District 10. She seems to have an endless supply of throwing knives, but he blocks every one with his shield. Remarkably, some of the knives blocked by the shield come back to her and she catches them in her bare hand. I make a mental note to stop underestimating people.

Meanwhile, Alicia are full-fledged sword fighting. She goes for my heart and I block it with my own blade. The air is filled with the sound of our fight, and it's like we're the only ones in the arena. All that my brain is allowing me to pick up is this fight, how crucial it is. Metal on metal, blade on blade, silver on gold. She disarms me and has the advantage of two swords as opposed to one. I quickly pull out another sword from my belt-the bronze one- and resume fighting. She has her silver sword in her right hand and my gold one in her left. After what seems like hours of fighting, she takes my blade in both of hers and twists it sharply, taking my sword out of my hands. Before I can reach for another, she puts my sword behind my neck and the tip of hers at my Adam's apple.

"Any last words?" She asks, with an evil glint in her eyes. Before I can think of a sarcastic remark, spit in her face or duck under her sword, trumpets blare to life. Margaret stops throwing knives and Alicia's grip on her swords loosens. Ethan drops his shield to the ground and my hands fall limply at my sides.

"Attention, tributes, attention," the announcer says. "There has been a rule change. Two victors may be allowed to win. Please gather at the site of the previous Cornucopia for details as soon as possible. Anyone not present for the second feast which starts in one hour will be... disqualified. Until such details are given, murder will not be tolerated, or will it be tolerated at the feast. Any tribute that takes the life of another tribute before the second feast will also be disqualified. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

Alicia lets her weapons fall to the ground with a _thud_. "You got lucky this time, District 4."

* * *

**Riley POV**

"Fuck!" I yell, not caring if anyone hears me. What are they going to do, kill me? I think not. I have to catch at least a squirrel, or Ethan and Aiden will know I tried to desert the alliance when I show up to the feast with nothing. The Gamemakers grant my wish and send a wild turkey my way. I shoot it in the eye with an arrow, then go and snap its neck for good measure. I take a length of rope out of my pack and tie it around the turkey's neck, then to my belt.

I got lucky that I wasn't far from the Cornucopia. When I get there, everyone else is already seated at a big round table. Ethan and Aiden are sitting together, and I sit down net to Aiden and gesture to the bird.

"Sorry I took a while," I say. "Slim pickings."

The trumpets blare again. "Welcome, tributes of the 225th annual Hunger Games. The rules for selecting the two Victors are simple. The victors have to be predetermined by none other than you six. The three tributes with the lowest remaining scores must chose someone to win with. These three tributes are Margaret Cresta, Christopher Blight and Alicia Schripe. Before you get too excited, there are some rules. The tribute that you pick must have a larger training score than yourself, and you can never have been in an alliance with them, no matter how briefly. Margaret Cresta, who do you select?"

She surveys us all, one by one, with the exception of the girl from 5. "I select Chris Blight," she says.

"Christopher Blight, who do you select?"

He takes me by surprise when he says "I select Riley Frise." My eyes widen, then squint. Why me?

"Alicia Schripe, who do you select?"

Alicia smirks. She rests her elbows on the table and puts her chin in her hands. "I select Aiden Ross."

"Congratulations, tributes, for making it this far. One final rule: The tribute that you have selected, or have been selected by, can still not be in an alliance with you. If you make an alliance, no matter how briefly, you will both be eliminated. Thank you, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

* * *

**_The Fallen_**

**_Ruby Debsberg- District 1 female_**

**_Jared Nilsen- District 1 male_**

**_Sianna Connard- District 2 female_**

**_Elizabeth Perry- District 3 female_**

**_Arthur Watts- District 3 male_**

**_Sam Collins- District 5 male_**

**_McKenzi Phelps- District 6 female_**

**_Luke Franklin- District 6 male_**

**_Rose Klappe- District 7 female_**

**_Natalie Quimby- District 8 female_**

**_Jake Quimby- District 8 male_**

**_Grace Hadely- District 9 female_**

**_Ryan Polrain- District 9 male_**

**_Hayden Pierce- District 10 male_**

**_Melody Harrison- District 11 female_**

**_James Enright- District 11 male_**

**_Peyton Johnson- District 12 female_**

**_Justin Hawthorne- District 12 male_**

**_Kill list_**

**_Jared: Natalie, Rose_**

**_Ruby: Melody, herself_**

**_Sianna: James_**

**_Aiden: Peyton, Grace, Justin, Luke_**

**_Alicia: Arthur, Ryan, Hayden_**

**_McKenzi: Elizabeth_**

**_Chris: McKenzi, Jake_**

**_Grace: Jared_**

**_Margaret: Sianna, Sam_**

**_Alliances_**

**_The Careers: _****_Ethan, Aiden_**

**_The Babysitters Club:_****_ Alicia, Margaret_**

**_Chris_**

**_Riley_**

**Go vote on my poll, it helps me decide who I'm going to kill when.**

**Disclaimer: Unnatural Selection belongs to Muse**


	33. Day 5 Part 3: Campfire

**Margaret POV**

Right after the feast, Alicia and I packed up and headed to our camp in the forest to regroup before we start our plan. I know it would have been smart to try and take out Ethan, since Alicia is untouchable, but we weren't feeling up to it. Besides, we're fairly sure Aiden will kill him soon, with it being down to the final six. Most alliances would have broken up by now, but Alicia is promising to get me to the final two with her.

That's why she's going to kill Chris, and I'm going to kill Aiden.

Now, I realize that Aiden is 18 years old, and a fully trained Career, but I'm trained as well. Alicia was so close to killing him earlier, and she's only a year older than me, with no other training besides what we were taught before the games. Besides, we know where he's camping, and how hard could it really be to hide in a tree and throw a knife at his head?

When we get back to our camp, we take inventory. I lost about 20 knives in my fight with Ethan, but Alicia managed to keep one of Aiden's swords after she disarmed him, and she gave it to me, just in case I ever need it. I tucked it into my belt. We're completely set in terms of food, so we snack on our trail mix to keep our energy up. I came from a decently wealthy family, but I'm pretty sure Alicia's eating more than she did when she was at home. Oh, and we had 18 water bottles, and they were all full, because we found a stream while we were hunting the Careers.

"We're short on supplies," I say. "We've got food, water and weapons, but no supplies." A matter of minutes after I say this, a parachute carrying a large package floats down towards us. Honestly, it's almost comical how quickly our sponsors get the gifts to us. We open it and find a set with a sleeping bag, a blanket, and a pillow, and it all fits in one bag. We also got a first aid kit with bandages, gauze, tape, antiseptic, rubbing alcohol, pain killers and fever reducers. We use the contents of that particular package to clean our wounds.

We also got some food, which was surprising since we already had so much, but as soon as we saw it, we could hardly contain our excitement. It wasn't anything fancy from the Capitol, but the fresh fruit seemed even better after days of trail mix, beef jerkey and crackers. They gave us apples, pears and oranges, all sliced in a bowl with grapes, strawberries and blueberries. We dug around one of the backpacks, looking for the forks that Sam had found.

While we're eating, we notice another bag in the package, but it's a small drawstring bag, about 6 inches by three inches. We open the bag and find five packets, one red, one purple, one yellow, one orange and one green. Alicia rips open the yellow one and sniffs the contents, a fine white powder.

"It smells like pure sugar," she says.

"Lemme see," I say, reaching over. I take the packet in my hand, and she was right; pure sugar. I put my finger in my mouth, put it into the packet and draw it back into my mouth. It's cloyingly sweet, but tart, and there's another flavor there. Citrus? Suddenly it hits me. I've only had it once before, but I'm sure I know what it is. "Lemonade."

"Huh?" Alicia asks. Before she reacts, I'm pouring the contents of the yellow packet in a water bottle, the red in another, purple in another, green in another and orange in the last.

"They're juice packets," I explain. "Yellow is lemonade, green is apple, purple is grape, red is fruit punch and orange is, well, orange."

"Oh," she says. We're just about to leave when I notice one more bag in the package. I gesture for Alicia to open it, and inside is 12 arrows, a box of matches and a note.

_Strike a match and put it in the hole at the top of the arrow._

"Flaming arrows," I whisper, in awe. She takes them out of the bag and puts them in her quiver, and slips the matches into her pocket.

We start walking, going up the stream away from the Cornucopia site to try and find Chris's camp. After a few miles, we see a small camp. It's too small to be the Careers', and it's nowhere near where the Cornucopia was. We know that it must be Chris's. Alicia puts a finger to her lips and starts climbing a tree. Once she stops climbing, I go up and join her on the branch above her.

"What's your plan?" I ask, my voice a whisper.

"Just wait," she replies.

After about 10 minutes of waiting, Chris comes back carrying a water bottle. I guess he was filling it. Alicia looks up at me and nods. She quietly reaches into her backpack and pulls out the container with the parachute that contained our Hgyn berries. Once Chris settles himself in his sleeping bag, she drops the parachute from the tree. He looks up and thinks that he has received a sponsor gift. He opens it up and puts several berries in his mouth at once. In a matter of seconds, he falls over and starts convulsing. Then, after a few minutes of this, he stops moving, all at once.

_Boom_

Once the claw comes for the body, we climb out of the tree to see what supplies he has. We end up taking his 4 throwing knives, sword, dried beef, dried fruit and iodine. Suddenly, it dawns on us.

"We're in the final 5."

"With the Careers."

**Riley POV**

"I think we should break up the alliance," I say to Ethan and Aiden. They look confused, as if my joke doesn't have a punchline. "We're in the final 5. I think it's time to separate. I don't want a fight, at least not yet, but I think we should stop working together." I grab a few bags, tuck some swords in my belt and sling a bow and some arrows over my shoulder.

"Alright," Aiden says. "Be seeing ya."

"Don't die," Ethan says. "Actually, go for it."

I start to walk away from my old camp, not looking back. I want to distance myself from them, but I don't want to be too far away in case they send mutts after me. Luckily, after I've walked about two miles, I find a clearing next to a stream and decide to set up my camp there. I spread out my sleeping bag and look through my backpacks. Food, water, daggers, iodine and a first aid kit. I cut an apple and start to eat it. After a while, I hear light footsteps behind me. I guess that it's a deer, and notch an arrow into my bow.

When I turn, I see not a deer, but the girls from 5 and 10.

"I'm armed," we all say at once.

"You're Aiden's district partner, right?" the girl from 5 asks. God, I'm sick of people calling me that.

"Riley," I tell her.

"Oh," she says. "I'm Alicia."

"Margaret," says the girl from 10.

"Not to sound impertinent," Alicia says, sarcastically. "But are we going to fight or not?"

"I should hope not," I say. I take a deep breath. "I want an alliance."

"We're in the final 5," Margaret says with a glare. "Why do you want an alliance this late in the games?"

"Because," I say. "I want the three of us to work together and kill Ethan."

Alicia and Margaret turn away and start whispering. I can't hear much of what they're saying, but I do pick up phrases like "Trained Career," "Aiden's district partner," and "Spy." Just as I'm about to send an arrow into Alicia's skull, they turn around.

"Fine," Alicia says. "We can ally, but we have some conditions. First off, Margaret and I will be the only ones that keep watch at night. It's nothing personal, but neither of us wants to be murdered in our sleep. Also, as soon as we kill Ethan, we're splitting up. "

"Is that it?" I ask.

"Yeah," Margaret says.

"Ok, cool," I say. "We should start making a plan for how we're gonna go about killing Ethan. We have to split up, so one of us can distract Aiden. He wouldn't just sit there eating popcorn while we tried to kill Ethan."

"Yeah," Alicia says. "Only problem is, I have that whole Pledge of Nonviolence thing, and you're his district partner. The only one of us that can fight Aiden without breaking rules or being shunned by the district is Margaret."

"Then I'll distract Aiden while you two kill Ethan," Margaret says. "Riley, you attack him from up close with a sword or spear, and Alicia can throw knives at him. I'll keep Aiden just distracted enough to keep him from helping Ethan. I don't think he has the morals to not fight you, Riley. In his eyes, you're probably a traitor."

"And what if, during this fight, Alicia throws a knife at Ethan, but hits me instead?" I ask her. "Then what?"

"We'll get you out of there," Alicia says. "Margaret's a great healer, she could fix you up. But, if you'd rather shoot arrows at him while _I _attacked him with a sword, I'm fine with that."

"Well, which of you is a better shot?" Margaret asks.

Alicia throws some knives in trees, each hitting approximately where the human heart would be. When she's done, I fire arrows at where the head is.

"Pretty decently matched," Margaret says. "But I think Riley's better with a sword than Alicia, so Riley, you take close range, and Alicia, you take distance."

"And how do you plan on fighting Aiden?" I ask.

"Eh," she says, passively. "Depends on my mood."

"Alright," Alicia says. "I'm starving. What kind of food do you have?"

"I got pizza at the feast," I tell her. "If we start a fire we can warm it up."

We start a fire, and it gets to be pretty good sized. After we eat our pizza, a parachute with a small package floats down toward our camp. I open it and find a chocolate bar, three white fluffy things, and a few long golden crackers, along with some long, skinny sticks.

"Am I missing something?" I ask, utterly confused.

"I don't get it," Alicia says.

Meanwhile, Margaret looks delighted. "Are you serious?" She asks. "Have you really never... Oh my god. Let me show you."

She picks up one of the sticks and spears one of the white fluffy things. She sets the stick between her feet and breaks one of the crackers in half. She puts a small piece of chocolate on one half and leaves the other alone. She holds the stick over the fire over the fire, and the fluffy thing turns from white to golden brown. She puts the fluffy thing on top of the chocolate and sandwiches it between the crackers. She sets it aside and makes two more. When she's done, she passes one around to each of us.

"They're called s'mores," she says, biting into one. "They had them all the time before the Dark Days. Seriously, they're really good. Try one."

Alicia and I look at each other hesitantly, but we each take a bite. They're actually really good. I don't know what I was expecting, but the white fluffies were really sweet. After we're done eating, I pass around a bottle of brown liquid that I got at the feast labeled "Root beer."

Eventually, the anthem comes on, and the boy from 7 is shown in the sky.

"You kill him?" I ask Alicia.

"Yeah," she says. "Why don't you two go to bed. I'll take first watch."

I settle into my sleeping bag and after no time at all, I'm having a dream where I'm taking a nap on a bed of white fluffies.

**Aiden POV**

When Chris's face is shown in the sky, I conclude that Alicia has another kill. Margaret and Riley were both not allowed to kill him, and Ethan has been with me all day. I should really kill Ethan tonight, but I find myself keeping him alive for no reason other than Alicia and Margaret. If they attacked in the middle of the night and I was on my own, I honestly don't think I'd stand a chance. It feels strange to be admitting defeat against a 14 year old and a 15 year old girl.

I sigh audibly. I'm almost too wrapped up in my thoughts to notice the parachte. I open it and there is a single spear sitting on a bed of crushed velvet. I pick it up, curios, because I already have so many spears. I notice two buttons on the handle, one red and one green. I press the green button and the tip of my spear instantly covers itself in a green liquid. Poison. I press the red button and the spearhead launches itself out of the spear, and a new head takes its place. I retrieve the other spearhead and put it back in the button, careful not to touch the poison. This is amazing! Now I have a spear that is good for distance too. I decide to keep this from Ethan. After all, this may be the weapon that kills him.

**Raise your hand if you're excited that Riley, Alicia and Margaret are all in an alliance! *Raises both like a weirdo.***

**_Eulogies_**

**_Chris: _I don't know why I kept you around this long. You weren't exactly the most interesting tribute... I thought if I incorporated you into the rule change, you'd be more exciting and people would like you more. Guess not. R.I.P.?  
**

**_The Fallen_**

**_Ruby Debsberg- District 1 female_**

**_Jared Nilsen- District 1 male_**

**_Sianna Connard- District 2 female_**

**_Elizabeth Perry- District 3 female_**

**_Arthur Watts- District 3 male_**

**_Sam Collins- District 5 male_**

**_McKenzi Phelps- District 6 female_**

**_Luke Franklin- District 6 male_**

**_Rose Klappe- District 7 female_**

**_Chris Blight- District 7 male_**

**_Natalie Quimby- District 8 female_**

**_Jake Quimby- District 8 male_**

**_Grace Hadely- District 9 female_**

**_Ryan Polrain- District 9 male_**

**_Hayden Pierce- District 10 male_**

**_Melody Harrison- District 11 female_**

**_James Enright- District 11 male_**

**_Peyton Johnson- District 12 female_**

**_Justin Hawthorne- District 12 male_**

**_Kill list_**

**_Jared: Natalie, Rose_**

**_Ruby: Melody, herself_**

**_Sianna: James_**

**_Aiden: Peyton, Grace, Justin, Luke_**

**_Alicia: Arthur, Ryan, Hayden, Chris_**

**_McKenzi: Elizabeth_**

**_Chris: McKenzi, Jake_**

**_Grace: Jared_**

**_Margaret: Sianna, Sam_**

**_Alliances_**

**_The Careers: _****_Ethan, Aiden_**

**_The Babysitters Club:_****_ Alicia, Margaret, Riley_**

**Disclaimer: Campfire belongs to Seth Sentry**


	34. Day 6 Part 1: The Final Two

**A/N: I forgot to do a Spotlight Story last chapter, so today you get two.**

**SS #1: _A Rose By Any Other Name _by _Dawn101907._ This is the story of the 76th Hunger Games, the one with Capitol citizens. President Snow's granddaughter volunteers for her disabled sister to go into the games.**

**SS #2: _Don't Fear The Reaper _by _ThinSlicing._ This story is about how Haymitch's daughter Brooke becomes friends with her fellow victors, and eventually falls in love with Finnick Odair.**

**Also, read the title of the chapter. Cough cough.**

**Alicia POV**

Since I woke Margaret up around 2 in the morning, the position of the sun tells me I slept for about 6 hours. We wake Riley up and eat some breakfast. Between the three of us, we had a good amount of food. We decide that for a battle this epic, we need a lot to eat. I send Margaret off with my bow to get some meat while Riley and I start a fire and get the rest of our food set up. We didn't quite trust Riley yet, so we didn't want to leave her alone.

While we're setting up food, Riley produces rolls, goat cheese and fruit salad from one of her packs, along with plates and silverware. I take out some trail mix, more fruit, juice and matches. We start the fire for whatever meat Margaret brings back, and begin setting up plates with the bread, fruit and trail mix. About 10 minutes after our fire is set up, Margaret comes back with a turkey, a rabbit and two squirrels. We decide to cook the squirrels first because they'll take the least amount of time. Once the squirrels are done, we cook the rabbit and turkey while we eat. By the time we're completely done eating, the rabbit is done, so we put it in a container and drop in in a bag. Shortly after, we package up the turkey as well. We kick out our fire and begin to walk toward the Careers' camp.

While we walk, we review the plan.

"So once we're close enough to the camp, I'll climb the nearest tree and send a flaming arrow right next to their tent," I say. "Margaret, that's your cue to run out to Aiden with your sword. Riley, while Ethan's distracted by Margaret, go out with _your_ sword. Then I'll start firing arrows at Ethan. Got it?"

"Got it," they say.

About a half-hour later, we get to the patch of dirt where the Cornucopia was. We look at Riley and she gives a quick nod. Margaret and Riley hide behind different trees while I quickly scale the one that would give me the best chances. Before I send my flaming arrow, I count how many normal ones I have. 3 dozen. I strike a match just as Ethan coughs and insert it into the hole at the top of my arrow. I line it up, then send it about a foot away from their empty tent.

That's when all hell breaks loose.

**Riley POV**

Alicia just sent out her flaming arrow, so Margaret and I sprint out from the trees. When the guys see that we both have swords, Aiden tosses one to Ethan, keeping the other three for himself. I jump in the air when I'm a few paces from Ethan and land not two feet in front of him. I raise my sword and he does the same. I go for his neck and he deflects it with his blade. Both of our eyes flicker to his shield, and I maneuver him away from it. I'm keeping the advantage here.

"So," he says, breathing heavily. "You teamed up with the girls. Where's Alicia?" In response, an arrow pierces his arm. He curses and drops his sword, so I pick it up. "Aiden! Sword!" Aiden doesn't even look when he tosses a sword at Ethan. He grabs it by the handle.

"What was I saying?" he asks me. "Oh yeah. Why'd you team up with the outer districts?" An arrow sails past his ear.

"We share a common goal," I say simply. Another arrow hits him in the boot, and he kicks it off in frustration.

"And that is?" I use both of my blades to twist his out of his grip, the same move Alicia showed me. I follow up with the other part that she showed me, one sword behind his neck, the other pointing between his collar bones.

"We all want you dead." I poke the sword through his neck and twist it. He coughs some blood into my face, sputters out something unintelligible and falls backwards, dead.

_Boom_

**Margaret POV **

While Aiden is distracted by Riley, I quickly aim my sword for his chest, but he's expecting it and deflects my blow.

"So, what brings you here, District 10?" Aiden asks me, almost amused.

"Well, our main focus right now is Ethan, but it wouldn't hurt to have you out of the games while we're at it," I tell him, confidently.

"And what makes you so sure you can kill me?" He asks, condescendingly.

"I'm the only one left that can," I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Alicia's not allowed to, Riley's your district partner, and Ethan's dead. I almost regret not keeping him around longer, he could have killed you."

"Look 10," he says with mock sympathy. "Why don't you leave this game to the big kids, alright?"

"I'll have you know I'm just as trained as you are."

"Really?" he asks, almost surprised. "Is that why you volunteered?"

"No..." I say slowly, as if I'm talking to a three year old. "I volunteered because that little girl didn't stand a chance. Any decent person would have done it."

"Right," he sneers. "That must be why you were the only one stupid enough to do it."

"Look, just because I-" My voice is cut off by Aiden's sword lodging itself in my throat. He pulls it out, and as my last act of defiance, I work up a mouthful of blood and saliva and spit it in his face. Aiden's eyes fill with rage and he grabs a spear, presses two buttons on it, and sends a spearhead flying into my gut.

I fall to the ground and my world goes black.

**Aiden POV**

_Boom_

Upon hearing the second cannon, Riley and Alicia jerk their heads in our direction. I see it in both of their eyes that they were hoping that Margaret could somehow overpower me, but to no avail. Alicia runs over to Margaret's lifeless form and a tear escapes her eye. She whispers something to her, I'm guessing a goodbye, then touches her first two fingers on her right hand to her lips, then presses them down on Margaret's forehead.

"So, if you're done with your sentimental shit," I say. "I'd appreciate it if you two could, you know, fight to the death."

"Who do you think-" Alicia starts.

"Well, you can't kill me because of your agreement with the Gamemakers," I say. "And Riley can't kill me _yet_ because she's my district partner."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Riley asks. "What's stopping me from killing you right now?"

"Aww," I say, my voice oozing fake sympathy. "Poor, clueless Riley. If you kill me, then manage to win a fight with Alicia, you'd never be able to return to District 4. They'd shun you for killing your district partner before it's absolutely necessary. I mean, it's not actually written anywhere, but do you want to take those chances?"

"I-" Riley says, then stops. She turns to Alicia. "He's right. He's untouchable."

"Glad you realized it, sweetheart," I say. "Now, if you two would get on with it, I'd like to know who my final kill will be."

They look at each other apologetically and begin the third sword fight of the games.

Slash. Deflect. Cut. Curse. Stab. Deflect. Disarm. Rearm. Stab. Deflect. On and on until Alicia has two swords and pierces Riley's neck and chest.

"I'm sorry," she whispers.

_Boom._

"That's it," Alicia says to me. "We won."

"Then why aren't there any trumpets?" I ask. "Are we forgetting about a tribute?" I think back, trying to picture each tribute's face in the sky, or their body on the ground. "The boy from 7?" I ask her.

"I killed him myself." The trumpets blare to life.

"Attention, tributes of the 225th Hunger Games. As you probably should have guessed from the 74th games, the rule change has been revoked. Only one victor can be crowned. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

**_Eulogies_**

**_Ethan: _Bro, it was time for you to go. You were never really liked or disliked by the readers. Everyone loved Alicia, Riley, Margaret and Ruby (sobs for bringing up Ruby) and everyone hated Aiden, James and Chris. You were just kinda there. But now you're not.  
**

**_Riley: _I never really wanted Riley to *win* but I always wanted her to come far. I applaud you for getting to the final three. You were always one of my favorites.**

**_Margaret: _*Sobs* *Takes a deep breath* Ok. You're really gone. I killed you. Well, Aiden killed you. Omg, why do I refuse to believe you're gone? Ok, I can't write anymore. *Falls into a pit of existential anguish.***

**_The Fallen_**

**_Ruby Densberg- District 1 female_**

**_Jared Nilsen- District 1 male_**

**_Sianna Connard- District 2 female_**

**_Ethan Peterson- District 2 male_**

**_Elizabeth Perry- District 3 female_**

**_Arthur Watts- District 3 male_**

**_Riley Frise- District 4 female_**

**_Sam Collins- District 5 male_**

**_McKenzi Phelps- District 6 female_**

**_Luke Franklin- District 6 male_**

**_Rose Klappe- District 7 female_**

**_Chris Blight- District 7 male_**

**_Natalie Quimby- District 8 female_**

**_Jake Quimby- District 8 male_**

**_Grace Hadely- District 9 female_**

**_Ryan Polrain- District 9 male_**

**_Margaret Cresta- District 10 female_**

**_Hayden Pierce- District 10 male_**

**_Melody Harrison- District 11 female_**

**_James Enright- District 11 male_**

**_Peyton Johnson- District 12 female_**

**_Justin Hawthorne- District 12 male_**

**_Kill list_**

**_Jared: Natalie, Rose_**

**_Ruby: Melody, herself_**

**_Sianna: James_**

**_Aiden: Peyton, Grace, Justin, Luke, Margaret_**

**_Alicia: Arthur, Ryan, Hayden, Chris, Riley_**

**_McKenzi: Elizabeth_**

**_Chris: McKenzi, Jake_**

**_Grace: Jared_**

**_Margaret: Sianna, Sam_**

**_Riley: Ethan_**

**_Alliances_**

**_Aiden_**

**_Alicia_**

**Disclaimer: This chapter is not named after a song.**


	35. Day 6 Part 2: The Final Countdown

**A/N: I giveth thee... THE FINALE!**

**Sorry it's really short, but it's very action-packed.**

**(Language warning)**

**No POV (Wouldn't want you to know which one of them dies, would we? ;))**

_"Attention, tributes of the 225th Hunger Games. As you probably should have guessed from the 74th games, the rule change has been revoked. Only one victor can be crowned. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor."_

The announcement seems to hit both of them hard. They look shocked for a moment, before they realize that they each now have the opportunity to kill the other. Aiden takes on a malicious grin, while Alicia looks startled for a minute, then smirks.

"They're right," Alicia says. "We really should have seen this coming."

"Oh, I did see it coming," Aiden says. "Remember before you and Riley fought, I wanted to know who would be my last kill?"

"I'm choosing to believe you had a momentarily slip-up."

"I always wanted this to be how it ended," Aiden says. "From the minute you turned us down, I wanted to be in the final 2 with you. Now, I can kill you my way and no one interferes."

"You know," Alicia says, pulling out her sword. "There's a reason I didn't want to join your alliance."

Aiden draws his own sword. "And that is?"

"You're all arrogant as fuck."

They begin an all out battle. Aiden slashes at Alicia's chest, but she deflects it. Alicia tries to stab his throat, but he rolls away. Aiden tries to disarm her, but she pulls her blade away. She tries disarming him, and instead, he takes the blade out of her hand, and leaves it on the ground.

Aiden still has his sword, but Alicia doesn't. She doesn't get another blade from her belt, but puts her arms up to protect her head.

"Alright," she says. "You win. Just make it quick."

Aiden slashes his sword all the way across Alicia's midriff. She falls over in pain and Aiden comes over and kneels down on her waist, pulling a knife from his boot. He poises the knife just above her throat, ready to cut it open at a moment's notice.

"This is how it ends for you," he says. "Any last words?"

"Eat shit," she whispers. Suddenly, she reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out a dagger. Before Aiden has time to react, Alicia stabs him in the temple, twists the knife and pulls it out.

"Tie breaker," Aiden whispers. "I had 5... you have 6. You... win."

_Boom._

Once Aiden's cannon goes off, Alicia uses the sleeve of her jacket to wipe the blood off of her knife. She then sits down next to Aiden's head and repeats the gesture she did to Margaret not long ago. She puts the first two fingers of her right hand to her lips, then touches her fingers to his forehead, then closes his eyes.

"You know," she says to his corpse. "I had to admire your spirit."

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victor of the 225th Hunger Games, Alicia Schripe of District 5!"

**_Eulogies_**

**_Aiden: _*Sings* I DON'T CARE WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO SAAAAAAY. You were honestly one of my favorites. I know I probably should've killed you a while ago, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, you know? Sigh. Even though most people hated you, I'LL miss you, and that's what matters.  
**

**_The Fallen_**

**_Ruby Densberg- District 1 female_**

**_Jared Nilsen- District 1 male_**

**_Sianna Connard- District 2 female_**

**_Ethan Peterson- District 2 male_**

**_Elizabeth Perry- District 3 female_**

**_Arthur Watts- District 3 male_**

**_Riley Frise- District 4 female_**

**_Aiden Ross- District 4 male_**

**_Sam Collins- District 5 male_**

**_McKenzi Phelps- District 6 female_**

**_Luke Franklin- District 6 male_**

**_Rose Klappe- District 7 female_**

**_Chris Blight- District 7 male_**

**_Natalie Quimby- District 8 female_**

**_Jake Quimby- District 8 male_**

**_Grace Hadely- District 9 female_**

**_Ryan Polrain- District 9 male_**

**_Margaret Cresta- District 10 female_**

**_Hayden Pierce- District 10 male_**

**_Melody Harrison- District 11 female_**

**_James Enright- District 11 male_**

**_Peyton Johnson- District 12 female_**

**_Justin Hawthorne- District 12 male_**

**_Kill list_**

**_Jared: Natalie, Rose_**

**_Ruby: Melody, herself_**

**_Sianna: James_**

**_Aiden: Peyton, Grace, Justin, Luke, Margaret_**

**_Alicia: Arthur, Ryan, Hayden, Chris, Riley, Aiden_**

**_McKenzi: Elizabeth_**

**_Chris: McKenzi, Jake_**

**_Grace: Jared_**

**_Margaret: Sianna, Sam_**

**_Riley: Ethan_**


	36. Post-Game Interview

**A/N: So, this is the chapter with the Post-Game interview, and after this, we skip ahead to the Victory Tour, then statistics and thank yous and then... That's it.**

**Alicia's POV**

I'm getting ready for my interview, and I'm really nervous. Saggitaria and the preps have done their jobs to perfection. My long, red hair is curled and shiny. My green eyes are dramatically done with silver, gray and black makeup, along with pale pink lipstick. My nails are filed, and painted a soft blue that coordinates with my dress beautifully.

But my dress is my favorite part. It's strapless and knee length, flaring out a bit at the bottom. It's a dark, royal blue, encrusted with thousands of gems. The top is covered in diamonds, the middle uses aquamarines, and the bottom has a sprinkling of sapphires. My shoes are a darker blue than the dress, and the heels make me look taller than my usual 5'6". I also have a necklace made from diamonds, aquamarines and sapphires.

"Are you ready, Alicia?" Saggitaria asks me.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I tell her.

She leads me down the hallway to the underground room where I'll rise up onto the stage. It's very similar to the Launch Room. I have to stand on a metal plate, and, when the time comes, I'll rise up onto the stage and have my four hour interview with Severa. First out is my prep team; Eunia, Persei and Vibia. Then there's my escort, Kestrel. I can only imagine how conflicted he feels, considering he never liked Sam or I. After Kestrel comes Saggitaria. Then, my mentor Nathan. Everyone cheers the most for him. He won the 8th Quarter Quell, and he mentored the tribute that won the 9th.

The plate lifts me up onto the stage and I'm hit with a sense of deja vu. The plate rising me up toward the blinding lights... It's meant to simulate the arena. I'm shocked for a moment, but I compose myself for the cameras, and the crowd. This is live. No screwing up.

When I get up to the stage, Severa gives me a hug, and says how she was always rooting for me. _Smile. Deep breath. Compliment the Capitol. _I tell her that I was so looking forward to coming back to the Capitol. Then, they play the recap of the Games. I don't know how I should act, so I decide to just try my best to look neutral.

They start out with the bloodbath. They show me, looking around for my allies, trying to make eye contact. Me taking in the tributes on either side of me: Elizabeth and Justin, their names are. Were. Me trembling at the sound of Aiden yelling threats at me. I shiver in my seat a little before I remember he's dead. They show me, climbing the Cornucopia to get the weapon to kill the boy from 9 that attacked Margaret. Ryan. I watch myself kill the boys from 3 and 10. Arthur and Hayden. I hear myself instructing Margaret and Sam to go to the ancient city. I get some supplies.

On the footage of Day 2, we are sorting through our supplies. We find a stream and the mutts attack us. I shiver again. _Butterflies. _We're all picked up by the butterfly mutts and dropped over the edge of the cliff, along with our supplies. I recall the pain of the knife piercing my back and I get goosebumps.

On day three, I'm still injured, and I watch Margaret have target practice to try to pick up some sponsors. I smile. The parachute comes down, and they skip the part where Margaret heals me.

On day four, they show Sam and Margaret trying to convince me to go to the feast. After I reluctantly agree, they skip ahead to the feast itself. I watch for the second time, Aiden killing the boy from 6. Luke. The girl from 2 killing the boy from 11. Sianna. James. Margaret killing Sianna.

Day five brings Margaret killing Sam and me forgiving her and suggesting we go tribute hunting. They alternate shots of my fight with Aiden and Margaret's fight with Ethan. I curse myself for not driving the sword through Aiden's neck sooner. Maybe then, Margaret could be sitting in this chair instead of me. After our fight, they show the second feast. They focus on me choosing Aiden and what that could mean. I kill the boy from 7 this day. Chris. We also team up with Riley and they show us making the plan to kill the boy from 2. Ethan.

Day 6 is the final day, and they show only the battles. Riley killing Ethan. Aiden killing Margaret. Me killing Riley. Then Aiden. They announce my victory and I'm taken out of the arena. I breathe a sigh of relief when it's over, but now I have to answer questions and pretend to be happy. I don't think I'll ever be happy again. No, wait. I'll be happy as soon as I can see Ashley again.

"So, Alicia," Severa starts. "How did you feel about the conditions of the arena?"

"Well, it could have been a lot worse," I say with a fake smile. "The ancient city provided shelter, and the forest was just about perfect after most of the tributes were gone."

"What was your least favorite part of the arena?" She asks.

I badly want to say "Watching people die, and killing so many of them," but I settle for "The butterfly mutts. They terrified me." I want to be the good little victor that doesn't start rebellions and doesn't get people killed outside the arena.

"You were the tribute with the most kills, with 6 to your name. How does that make you feel?"

"A little guilty, I guess, but I did what I had to do to survive."

"After you killed Aiden, you told him that you 'Admired his spirit.' What did you mean by that?" Severa asks.

"He wasn't the type of person to just give up," I tell her. "He knew what he wanted and made a plan to get it.

The questions go on for a while until I'm asked what I know will be the last.

"Who is your favorite victor?" Most people either joke about it being themselves, or say Finnick Odair, Katniss Everdeen or Johanna Mason, or say their mentor. I fully intended to say it was Nathan, but I got a very sudden, very urgent idea.

"Annie Cresta."

"Margaret's aunt?" I nod.

"Well, that's all the time we have left. Everyone, Alicia Schripe, victor of the 225th Hunger Games!"

I stand up and curtsy, then walk off the stage.

**A/N: So, the next chapter will be her Victory Tour, then some statistics.**


	37. Victory Tour

**A/N: So, these will only be the speeches she gives in the districts, just so you know. Each speech is 65ish words, so it's not like she's giving four hour speeches on people she's never met.**

* * *

**District 12**

"Justin was definitely a worthy contender, and I'm not at all surprised that he convinced a former Career tribute to join him. I never talked to him, but I respected him for his morals and his remarkable ability to forgive and forget. I never spoke to Peyton either, but she seemed like an amazing person; someone not fit for the Hunger Games. Thank you for your children, they're both in a better place now."

* * *

**District 11**

"When I found out that James had formed an alliance with Chris and Luke, I was briefly terrified. From the minute I saw him at the reaping, I was literally scared for my life, but when he comforted Melody, I felt bad for both of them. Melody did not deserve to have her life ended this way. They were both incredibly brave, and I'm sorry for your losses."

* * *

**District 10**

"Hayden was the only person since the 3rd Quarter Quell to receive a training score of 12. I'll never know whether he did something truly extraordinary, or if he was simply made to be a target. Margaret was more than just an ally; she was my friend. She reminded me of my younger sister, Ashley, and I tried my best to get her to the Victor's throne. It should be her that won, not me."

* * *

**District 9**

"Even though Ryan had tried to kill my ally in the bloodbath, I don't think he would have actually had it in him to kill anyone. The only word I can use to describe Grace is independent. She always played the games on her terms, and I almost regret not asking her to join our alliance. I'm sorry for your losses."

* * *

**District 8**

"Jake and Natalie had the worst luck out of any of the tributes in the games. They were both forced into a fight to the death with the person that knew them the best. I didn't speak with them much, but I talked to them enough to uncover Natalie's spirit and Jake's protectiveness. Let them rest in peace."

* * *

**District 7**

"Chris was one of the strongest tributes in the games, both physically and mentally. Had I engaged him in a physical fight, I would have lost in a heartbeat. Rose was too young for this, too fragile. She was only 12, and she didn't deserve the games. Neither of them did."

* * *

**District 6**

"I only spoke with Luke and McKenzi in training long enough to feel bad for them. They were some of the few that knew each other well before the games. They didn't let on in their interviews - at least McKenzi didn't - that they were together, but I always knew they had a connection. I think this is what they would have wanted; to be together."

* * *

**District 4**

"Even though I feel as though I should hate him for constantly trying to kill me, I had to admire Aiden. When he wanted something, he didn't let anything stand in his way. Riley was one of the best allies I could ask for. I was reluctant to trust her, since she was Aiden's district partner, but once I did, I let all of my reservations go. The tributes from District 4 definitely made the arena interesting."

* * *

**District 3**

"Arthur and Elizabeth were some of the smartest people I've ever met. Elizabeth was brave for her age. She sacrificed herself in the hopes that her allies would get the supplies they needed in the bloodbath. The tributes from District 3 were both remarkable people."

* * *

**District 2**

"Ethan and Sianna were some of the bravest people I've ever met. From what I could tell, they were always ready for a challenge and were never the ones to turn down excitement in favor of the safe side. They were always ready for action, which ultimately cost them their lives."

* * *

**District 1**

"Ruby and Jared were awesome. Ruby had the courage to leave her alliance before the games even started, sacrificing her life in the process. I think that Jared found peace in not making it further into the games. Even though he killed Rose, I don't think he could do it again. I can only imagine what it would be like to know Ruby and Jared outside the arena."

* * *

**District 5**

"Sam was one of the best district partners I could ask for. When I had the knife in my back, he found food and gathered water, which ultimately saved my life. He was smart, and he saved Margaret at the bloodbath. I will never stop owing Sam Collins or his family."

* * *

**Statistics and thank-yous go up tomorrow!**


	38. Statistics and Thank-yous

**Thank you so much to everyone that read this story! I can't believe it's over, but it is. I've already started writing the sequel, it's called "The 226th Hunger Games: Capitol's Picks." It ****_was_**** an SYOT, but all of the spots are filled. Now, onto the statistics.**

**Story statistics**

Views: 6,920

Follows: 17

Favs: 14

Reviews: 146

Chapters: 38

Words: 52,181

**Victor's statistics**

Name: Alicia Schripe

Age: 15

Gender: Female

District: 5

Training score: 9

Weapon of choice: Throwing knives

Allies: Sam Collins, Margaret Cresta, Riley Frise.

Token: Makeshift charm bracelet.

Kills: Arthur Watts, Riley Frise, Aiden Ross, Chris Blight, Ryan Polrain, Hayden Pierce.

**Tribute statistics**

**24th place: Ryan Polrain- Alicia threw a knife at him for attacking Margaret. Bloodbath.**

**23rd place: Arthur Watts- Alicia threw a knife at him while he was trying to get a weapon. Bloodbath.**

**22nd place: Hayden Pierce- Alicia threw a knife at him while he was trying to get a weapon. Bloodbath.**

21st place: Natalie Quimby- Jared shot an arrow into her heart. Bloodbath.

20th place: Peyton Johnson- Aiden speared her in the head. Bloodbath.

19th place: Elizabeth Perry- McKenzi drove a sword through her neck. Bloodbath.

18th place: Rose Klappe- Jared sent an arrow into her stomach.

17th place: Jared Nilsen- Grace plunged an awl through his neck.

16th place: Grace Hadely- Aiden threw a spear into her head.

15th place: Melody Harrison- She fell out of a tree and Ruby slit her throat.

14th place: Jake Quimby- Chris threw a knife at his head.

13th place: McKenzi Phelps- Chris threw a knife at her head.

12th place: Justin Hawthorne- Aiden spears him in the stomach.

11th place: Ruby Densberg- She cuts her wrists and stabs herself in the heart after losing Justin.

10th place: Luke Franklin- He sacrificed himself to Aiden to prevent his allies from getting supplies.

9th place: James Enright- Sianna threw a knife at his head when he tried to reclaim his supplies.

8th place: Sianna Connard- Margaret threw a poisoned knife at her leg, and she died when the poison infected her blood.

7th place: Sam Collins- Margaret threw a knife at his skull after he tried to kill her.

**6th place: Chris Blight- Alicia dropped poisonous berries on him, but made him think they were a sponsor gift.**

5th place: Ethan Peterson- Riley drove her sword through his throat.

4th place: Margaret Cresta- Aiden drove his sword through her throat then sent a poisonous spear head into her stomach.

**3rd place: Riley Frise- Alicia stabbed her in the neck and heart with two swords at once.**

**2nd place: Aiden Ross- Alicia stabbed him in the temple while pretending to be more fatally injured than she was.**

1st place: Alicia Schripe

Youngest tribute(s): Rose, Melody

Oldest tribute(s): Jared, Ethan, Aiden

Average age: 15.666 Y/O

**Game statistics**

Year: 225th

Type: Quarter Quell

Head Gamemaker: Lilywater Brooksfield

Length: 6 days

Most kills: Alicia (6)

**Thank yous**

Lulubell2495: I love you so much! You're the greatest beta in the world and you were with this story from the beginning _**UNTIL THE VERY**** END**_. You're so flopping amazing, but seriously, update your story. *Blows kiss*

teampeeta1227: Whenever I saw that I got a review from you, I'd get really happy because your reviews always made me laugh. I'm really sorry that Riley or Margaret couldn't win, but I hope you're satisfied with Alicia. #TeamAlicia

Lya200: You were one of my most dependable viewers, and I'm kind of in awe of you because you had to have been constantly searching this story because you couldn't have favorited this. You're a really cool person, and you should totally make an account.

Allythecole: So, I had a fangirl moment when you first reviewed this, because I'm obsessed with your story. Which brings be to my next point. I told Lulubell2495, and I'll tell you: Update your story!

Jms2: Welp, there you go, Alicia won. I can only imagine how happy you were when she won, and also how pissed you must have been when Margaret died, and that made me feel really guilty. You win some you lose some.

**It feels so strange to change the status of this story from "In Progress" to "Complete." If you've submitted a tribute for the sequel, I'll see you there, but even if you didn't, I'd love it if you read it anyway. XOXO**

**Haley**


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